2014 Bila Haut Cotes de Roussillon Villages Latour de France Occultum Lapidem 750 ml

The Bean Counters, Chapoutier and “Cost Plus Ten”

Give this one to the Bean Counters. In January 2015, we approached a number of our closest importer partners with a concept called “Cost Plus Ten.” They agreed to come clean with the winery’s ex-cellar prices. We agreed to pay a 10% upcharge … and also to consider more wines from their portfolios throughout the year.

For the most part, “Cost Plus Ten” has worked liked a charm. But during our yearly reviews with The Powers That Be, we learned that in a couple instances the offer price didn’t correspond to the rules of Cost Plus Ten. In no way are we suggesting that the importers were dishonest. To the contrary: Honest partners make mistakes, and when they do, they correct them. Such is the case today.

OOPS! Michel Chapoutier’s 92-95pt “Occultum Lapidem” was offered for $29/bottle in July. Today, the importer’s last 1,500 bottles are up for grabs for just $24 on cases … courtesy of the Bean Counters and “Cost Plus Ten.”

In 1978, a Maryland-based attorney published a direct-mail newsletter called The Baltimore-Washington Wine Advocate. A year later, Robert Parker dropped “Baltimore-Washington” from the name of his publication. The Wine Advocate’s 100-point rating system soon took the wine world by storm. Parker shined a bright spotlight on the wines of the Rhône Valley, almost single-handedly catapulting the names of the greatest producers into the international limelight.

Three names rose above the rest: Guigal, for its 100-point “La-La” Côte-Roties. The Perrin family’s Château de Beaucastel, for its 100-point “Hommage à Jacques Perrin.” But both take a back seat to Michel Chapoutier when it comes Parker perfection. Chapoutier’s “Ermitage” has garnered a whopping 29 100-point reviews from The Wine Advocate — more than ALL of Bordeaux’s First Growths combined!

In 1999, Michel Chapoutier stumbled upon a neglected 185-acre property in the Roussillon. The soils were a rugged mix of flaky schist, gneiss, and clay. Chapoutier was smitten by the wildness of the slopes of the Agly Valley — about as close as French vines get to the Spanish border — and the vineyards bracketed by scrappy brush, sparse trees, and wild herbs. There was a perfume in the air that Michel simply couldn’t get out of his head, a mix of smoky rosemary, thyme, juniper, lavender, and olive. Chapoutier quickly purchased the estate, determined to bring it back to life.

Chapoutier’s pride and joy is his Côtes du Roussillon Villages Latour de France Occultum Lapidem, a luscious mix of 70-year-old-vine, head-trained Grenache, Syrah, and Carignan. In the cool 2014 vintage, harvest was pushed back to the end of September. That extra hangtime allowed M. Chapoutier to turn out a spellbinding blend that The Wine Advocate claims outpoints all but a few of the greatest names of Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Hermitage.

Jet-black to the rim. Lavish aromas of black fruit preserves, garrigue, sweet spice, and licorice. Rich, dense, and compact, sleek and suave texturally, the attack is absolutely MASSIVE, yet due to the low pH offered by these flaky schist soils, all of the natural opulence is buttressed by superb acidity and grip. Drink now for its primary-fruit flash, or like all of Chapoutier’s great reds, lay this one down for a decade. It could surely benefit from the rest.

92-95 points. $35 on release. Just $24 today … per the rules of Cost Plus Ten.