Winemaker Notes
This medium-bodied Crozes-Hermitage Rouge derives from vines that are nearly 35 years of age. The palate is fresh with dark fruit, yet earthy and charmingly rustic in nature. Notes of spice and graphite emerge, compliments of its aging habitat—a combination of cement and barrel.
Blend: 100% Syrah
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
A rich core of blackberries, black currants, crème de cassis, high tones of pomegranate and wild thyme on the nose. The palate is refreshed with crisp acidity, energizing its dark-fruit profile. Its slow evolution in the glass hints of additional cellaring through 2035+ before revisiting.
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Vinous
Dark magenta. Smoky black and blue fruit aromas are complemented by lively mineral and black pepper accents. Offers energetic boysenberry, cherry-cola and violet pastille flavors, along with notes of black pepper and olive paste. The floral note repeats on the persistent finish, which features well-knit tannins and lingering spiciness.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Hints of black olive wind around and through the blackberry and cherry core of the 2020 Crozes Hermitage. Medium to full-bodied, concentrated and ripe, with a velvety feel and ample length, this is a fine example of the appellation.
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Wine Spectator
Offers mulled red and black cherry fruit supported by dried anise and apple wood notes, with a light-handed toasty accent on the mineral-edged finish.
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.”
A long and narrow valley producing flavorful red, white, and rosé wines, the Rhône is bisected by the river of the same name and split into two distinct sub-regions—north and south. While a handful of grape varieties span the entire length of the Rhône valley, there are significant differences between the two zones in climate and geography as well as the style and quantity of Rhône wines produced. The Northern Rhône, with its continental climate and steep hillside vineyards, is responsible for a mere 5% or less of the greater region’s total output. The Southern Rhône has a much more Mediterranean climate, the aggressive, chilly Mistral wind and plentiful fragrant wild herbs known collectively as ‘garrigue.’
In the Northern Rhône, the only permitted red variety is Syrah, which in the appellations of St.-Joseph, Crozes-Hermitage, Hermitage, Cornas and Côte-Rôtie, it produces velvety black-fruit driven, savory, peppery red wines often with telltale notes of olive, game and smoke. Full-bodied, perfumed whites are made from Viognier in Condrieu and Château-Grillet, while elsewhere only Marsanne and Roussanne are used, with the former providing body and texture and the latter lending nervy acidity. The wines of the Southern Rhône are typically blends, with the reds often based on Grenache and balanced by Syrah, Mourvèdre, and an assortment of other varieties. All three northern white varieties are used here, as well as Grenache Blanc, Clairette, Bourbelenc and more. The best known sub-regions of the Southern Rhône are the reliable, wallet-friendly Côtes du Rhône and the esteemed Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Others include Gigondas, Vacqueyras and the rosé-only appellation Tavel.