Domaine Xavier Gérard, Côte-Rôtie “Le Mollard” Northern Rhône, France 2019 (750mL)

While Xavier’s standard Côte-Rôtie bottling is a blend of vines from various parcels, every once in a while, he will release a bottling specifically from his “Le Mollard” lieu-dit. It is essentially a meticulous selection of his best-performing old vines that sees a 50% whole-cluster fermentation before 30 months of maturation in 40% new French barrels. It is bottled unfined and unfiltered. Only a couple of barrels are selected for this special label. Because it’s so rare, I’ve never had the fortune of trying it. Case in point: The entire state of California was allotted 30 bottles. We have six.