Winemaker Notes
This cuvée displays a deep ruby red color with garnet tinges and aromas of stewed black fruits, dominated by cassis and blackberries, while hints of leather and game emerge as it opens. The palate is perfectly balanced, combining suave delicacy with considerable volume, and the finish is lifted by flavors of very ripe black cherries, making it an ideal match for a variety of grilled meats.
Professional Ratings
-
Vinous
Glass-staining garnet. Expansive blackberry and cherry preserve scents are complemented by suggestions of exotic spices, incense and olive. Round and fleshy but lively as well, offering intense black and blue fruit liqueur and spicecake flavors that are underscored by a vein of juicy acidity. A smoky mineral note builds emphatically on the youthfully tannic finish, which hangs on with superb, spice- and mineral-driven tenacity. 25% new oak.
Barrel Sample: 94-95 -
James Suckling
Very smoky and meaty syrah, but also some violet aromas. At once plush and elegant this is a really sophisticated Crozes with full body, but also some delicacy. The tannins only come centre stage right at the end. They should give it a long life. From a four-hectare vineyard site south of Tain l'Hermitage, located close to the Rhone river. All matured in oak, but only about a quarter in new barrels. Drink or hold.
-
Wine Spectator
A svelte red, with serious aromatic and textural complexity, offering perfumed red fruit, dried flower and eucalyptus flavors that merge with base notes of cigar box, tobacco, smoked black tea and graphite. Shows toasty oak that's well-integrated and augments the power, though this never feels heavy, thanks to an undercurrent of mineral energy. Best from 2024 through 2032. 500 cases made, 42 cases imported.
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.