Domaine Ott Etoile at $170: what am I missing?

Paid a lot of attention to it over two hours. Creamy finish obliterates any character. As for the mid-palate, tasted blind I’d guess some very popular crowdpleaser like Whispering Angel or Miraval. Not eg Tavel. Not Rhonish.

Petty of me but even the packaging looks like third shelf supermarket.

Ott is the template all those brands used to pound out successful fakes at 1/4 the price. Knock off Gucci bags can fool a lot of people too.

Sounds like you’re missing $170.

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I thought you were talking about (Bernhard) Ott from Austria who makes a lot of GV - I got a mixed case from Flatiron that I bought on pre-arrival, really good stuff for the price. I was like damn what is the $170 bottle I didn’t see…but now I’m even more confused that it’s actually some rose.

Damn I was about to say the same thing.

The comment about fakes is interesting. Jancis note on the wine, while saying it’s over priced, describes something way more interesting and worth while than what the OP describes. 2019 vintage.

Ambitiously priced new wine from Ott that is apparently a blend of the best rosé from their three properties combining ‘the salinity of Clos Mireille, the smooth elegance of Château de Selle and the depth of Château Romassan’. Presumably it is the inclusion of Bandol with the Côtes de Provence wine that mandates the supposedly lowly Vin de France appellation. 80% Grenache, 20% Mourvèdre, 15% aged in ceramic spheres ‘to accentuate the purity of the fruit’. In the trademark skittle-shaped Ott bottle, again etched clear glass.

Yes, this really is more interesting on the nose than the Côtes de Provence wines I have just been tasting – with a bit of salinity indeed. I wanted to swallow this well-balanced wine with attractive grip on the end. Smooth as silk and appetising with no excess sweetness. Persistent. I don’t think I’d pay £120 for it but it is clearly superior.
17 pots

Day two. After day one the above comments about counterfeit rang possibly true. We bought a bottle of Brangelina Miraval today to taste along side the rest of the Etoile today… It helped me to see the Etoile… Phew. This is a beautiful gentle elegant tight too young wine today. My friend said she smelled yeast yesterday, and the creaminess I tasted yesterday was also more new-wine winemaker stuff not the wine. Now that stuff has blown off, it’s clearly tight. The Miraval, although lower alcohol, is heavier with stronger flavors, surprisingly not cloying sweet, but lacking the class of the Etoile, a word I hate but for whuch I cannot find a substitute. A hotter day would bring out the flavors more. I’d gladly pay $70 for this. The other $100 is marketing. I have two more bottles and they will sleep for five years.

Somewhwre between pissed off and intrigued, bought a Tempier Bandol rose for 50.today and another one for 50. The Miraval standa up to those s lesser than, simpler, heavier, but same planet. The Etoile wins. Again, a $70 wine IMO.

I may be wrong but I didn’t take Matthew’s comment to mean the wine was faked, but that the style/marketing approach was copied by other producers.