Introducing Rotie Cellars – Fine Rhone-Inspired Wines from Washington State

On Wednesday 28th of February from 7pm in Kew, we are offering an exclusive chance to taste the full Rotie Cellars range below. Tickets are £65 and can be purchased here.

Winemaker Sean Boyd of Rotie Cellars set out in 2007 to make the best possible wines from Rhone varieties in Washington State. Sourcing fruit from his base in Walla Walla as well as the Rocks district, his mission statement is encapsulated in his ‘Old World Wines from New World Vines’ tag line. The aim is to make the wines with moderate alcohol and ripeness levels and to pay homage to his favourite Rhone valley wines. We found these wines to be a breath of fresh air in a world of North American wines dominated by California, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay. In fact, we liked them so much that we decided to import them directly and become their sole representative in the UK.

The Southern Blend is inspired by the likes of Chateauneuf-du-Pape and contains a majority of Grenache alongside varying proportions of Syrah and Mourvedre. This is a bright, raspberry scented wine with hints of peppery spice and leather achieving a great balance between power and elegance.

The Northern Blend is a ‘savoury companion’ to the Southern, based on Syrah co-fermented with around 3% Viognier. The bold blackberry fruit and black pepper from the Syrah are enlivened by the aromatic florality of the Viognier giving way to a generous, silky texture.

The Southern White is made from 60% Viognier, 25% Marsanne, and 15% Roussanne, giving a richly textured white with loads of ripe fruit inspired by the rare, great white wines of Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

The 100% Grenache Blanc is a lighter companion to the southern white – delightfully fresh with bright citrus aromas on the nose, followed by generous texture in the mouth and bags of flavour, especially  for a wine with just 11.2% abv!

The very limited production ‘Dre’ is made from 100% Mourvedre and is big and burly with intense, savoury aromatics giving way to an explosion of dark fruit on the palate.

‘Little G’ is a single vineyard Grenache and this site takes the longest to ripen of all Sean’s vineyards giving an extremely complex wine more reminiscent of an elegant Pinot Noir than the typical Grenache stereotype. Also extremely small production.