Winemaker Notes
Pair with herb roast poultry, cooked pork meats (especially from the Ardeche region!), or red meat.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Saturated, deep black-red in color with a pure, exuberant and exciting scent mingling notes of smoke, bramble, blackberry, blackcurrant and redcurrant. The flavors are joyful. There’s a fruit core of singing lyricism, both vivid and fresh without being acidulous; the wine is tannic enough to give its fruit shape and gravitas but not roughness or austerity; and it has overtones which bring light and shade to the wine via faint notes of smoke, of cleansing bitterness, of the saltiness which is such a hallmark of parts of Crozes, and of the ‘stony’ flavors which lovers of terroir wine crave. A gorgeous success.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Crozes-Hermitage has always been my go-to Rhône Valley red of the area's best values. The 2015 Cave de Tain fills the bill well. This wine offers bright red and black fruits, with a shading of baking spices. Drinks well now. (Tasted: May 15, 2017, San Francisco, CA)
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Crozes-Hermitage is Northern Rhone’s largest appellation, surrounding the steep granite faces of Hermitage to its north and south. Here the rolling vineyards are less extreme and its soils, rich in clay-limestone and alluvial matter, produce Syrahs that range from fruity and charming to lush and seductive. The Syrahs of Crozes-Hermitage have more mass than those from St. Joseph but are less intense than those from Hermitage. While many are intended for early consumption, some of the best Syrahs from Crozes-Hermitage will age beautifully for 5-10 years.
Up to 15% of white grapes may theoretically be added to red Crozes at the time of fermentation but whether this is done or not depends on the decision of the winemaker. The best Crozes-Hermitage Syrahs will be fleshy with black fruit (currant, blackberry and black cherry) and bay leaf qualities, notes of tar and stone, and a well-concentrated finish of smooth tannins.
About a tenth of the wine produced in Crozes-Hermitage is white, primarily composed of Marsanne supplemented by smaller amounts of Roussanne.