of the region's wines are made of 100% Syrah, up to 20% of Viognier can be added to the wine. The wines are often meant to be consumed 5–6 years after vinification but well-made examples can need 10–15 years to fully develop their flavors with some wines having the aging potential of over 20 years. The most distinctive characteristic of all Côte-Rôtie wine is the aroma. The fragrant notes of these wines often include green olives, raspberry, violets, and meaty bacon. Other flavors commonly associated with Côte-Rôtie wine include black pepper, white pepper, blueberry, blackberry, plum, and leather. The vines of the region are very old, with 40 years being an average and some vines being over 100. This produces low wine yields of very flavor-concentrated fruit. Most of the vineyards used for producing Côte-Rôtie AOC are planted on the slopes of nearly 60° incline. The appellation extends to the flatter plateau above the slopes but the wine there is generally of lower quality and is sold with the more generic Côtes du Rhône AOC. Legend has that the two sub-regions of the Côte-Rôtie, Côte Blonde and Côte Brune, were named after the blonde and brown hair colored daughters of a local lord who had two very different personalities. Similarly, the wines of both regions also have different characteristics. Wines of the Côte Blonde are often more balanced, elegant and meant to be consumed earlier. Wines of the iron-rich Côte Brune contain more tannins, are full-bodied and meant to age longer in the bottle prior to being consumed. Traditionally, most Côte-Rôtie wines are blends of grapes from the two sub-regions, incorporating both sets of distinctive qualities. In recent years, more single vineyard designated wines have been produced that emphasize the terroir of that vineyard. Marcel Guigal was an early pioneer in single vineyard bottling. Some of the most prestigious vineyards in the Côte-Rôtie include, La Chatillone, La Chevalière, La Garde, La Landonne, La Mouline, La Turque. Winemaking The Côte-Rôtie is one of the few wine appellations that allow white wine grapes to be used in a blend of red wine. (The southern Rhône region Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC is another.) The region was also one of the first Rhône regions to make use of new oak barrels for aging, though the practice did fall out of favor in the late 19th century following the phylloxera epidemic. Négociants revived the practice in the