After tasting Rostaing's 2019 C?te Brune, it would be difficult for any wine to measure up, but the 2019 Cote Rotie la Landonne comes darn close and is a more-than-acceptable second choice. Notes of violets and red raspberries lead the way on the nose, backed by the vineyard's signature roasted meat and black olives. Medium to full-bodied, incredibly concentrated and worthy of two decades of cellaring, yet not unapproachable even now, this is another suburb effort to emerge from Rostaing's magical vineyard holdings.

Subtle notes of baking spices frame hints of tea, olives and raspberries on the nose of the 2016 Cote Rotie la Landonne. A paragon of elegance, it's medium to full-bodied, but silky from start to lingering finish. It's a wine that's pretty much guaranteed to make even the steeliest curmudgeon smile, as it's so bright, ephemeral and luscious. It's not the rich, ripe wine the 2015 is, but it's suave, complex and long.