Emmanuel Darnaud Les Trois Chenes Crozes-Hermitage 2009
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A major sleeper of the vintage, this opaque purple-colored 2009 Crozes-Hermitage reveals notes of melted road tar, black truffles, graphite, blackberries, cassis, charcoal and roasted herbs. This full-bodied, stunning effort should drink nicely for 10-15 years. Rating: 91-93
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Wine Spectator
A modern style, with dark, alluring espresso and bittersweet cocoa flavors leading the way, followed by muscular black currant paste, crushed fig and plum sauce notes. The long, broad, dark finish has lots of latent drive. There's plenty of stuffing here, and this should open with a touch of cellaring. Best yet from this emerging producer. Drink now through 2015. 2,000 cases made.
Emmanuel is a perfectionist and no small detail of the winemaking process goes ill-considered. A visit to his domaine or a walk along side him in the vineyards clearly attests to this fact. From his meticulous leaf management that favors maximum aeration and exposure, to alternating the growth of cover grasses from row to row, which allows him to reduce the footprint of heavy machinery in the vineyard, he gives appreciation to the notion that great wines have their start in the vineyard through attentive and meticulous practices, and then afterward through a delicate transformation that takes place in the cellar. Once there the harvested fruit is subjected to an extreme chill before going into the fermentation tanks for a cold pre-fermentation followed by the rigors of multiple foot-crushings each day in each tank during the three week fermentations.
His attention to detail continues naturally through the 14 months of aging, as he tracks the progress of each barrel by racking and then reintroducing the wine into the same barrel, after cleaning, so that that he can follow the precise contribution of each cask.
Since his first vintage in 2001, Darnaud has emerged as a maker of brightly fruited wines with a smoky, seductive and haunting bouquet that clearly sets him in a class apart from his contemporaries.