Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
From vines on clay-limestone soils in lieux dits Beaumes and Diognières, the fruit is fermented in concrete than aged for 18 months in demi-muids, 30% new and 70% second use. Rosemary and juniper sit amongst lifted blackberry and black cherry fruit. The medium-bodied palate is concentrated yet very fresh and lively, without excess oak or extraction. It buzzes with energy; lifted and drinkable. Really fresh, precise and crisp tannins lead to a long, saline and dynamic finish. A good year for Domaine du Colombier.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Brought up in 30% new demi-muids, with the balance in used barrels, the 2017 Hermitage is beautifully pure and layered, with smoking good notes of crème de cassis, white flowers, crushed rocks, and violets. Deep, full-bodied, and concentrated on the palate, it has plenty of tannins and is going to need 5-7 years of bottle age. This is a sensational Hermitage from Colombier that will drink well for 25+ years.
Rating: 96+ -
Wine Enthusiast
Crisp blackberry and black-currant aromas are accentuated by savory bramble and smoked meat in this wine. It's tightly wound in youth but the concentrated black-fruit flavor and fine, firm tannins should open and meld with time. A beautiful wine already, lifted by a firm, cooling minerality, it will continue to improve through 2035 and hold longer still.
Cellar Selection -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Colombier's 2017 Hermitage starts off a bit lifted and minty on the nose, but those elements are balanced by the wine's huge fruit. Waves of concentrated cherry and raspberry flavors wash over the full-bodied palate, pummeled into shape by equally big tannins. This is promising, but it deserves a few more years of cellaring.
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Wine & Spirits
David and Florent Viale run this 44-acre estate in Mercurol. Most of their holdings are in Crozes-Hermitage, but their parcel in the middle of the Hermitage hill produced their most impressive 2017. Vinified with a portion of whole bunches, it’s both sweet and spicy, with a cool vein of red fruit to contrast the mocha notes of oak. The wine gets prettier as the oak recedes, a deep black-olive richness developing in its place. Give this another eight to ten years in the cellar before drinking.
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.