Winemaker Notes
The wine is partly matured in oak barrels for 12 months before bottling. It is an intense cherry-red color small red fruit, blackcurrants. Very aromatic attack, aromas of ripe red fruit (cherries, raspberries). Round wine with smooth tannins.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Whiffs of leather and dried sage lend savory accents to crisp blackberry and mulberry in this perfumed red. Medium bodied and freshly concentrated, it’s an invigorating, intently mineral sip framed by firm, persistent tannins. Approachable already the wine should drink well through 2024.
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Wine Spectator
Features a smoky edge, with grilled savory and sage hints amid dark cherry and plum compote flavors. White pepper nuances run through the velvety finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The entry-level wine from Crozes is the 2017 Crozes-Hermitage La Matinière , which was aged a year in used oak. It offers a Côte Rôtie-like perfume of spring flowers, bacon fat, raspberries, and toasted spices to go with a medium-bodied, seamless, fleshy, undeniably delicious style. Despite plenty of upfront charm, it has solid tannins as well and will keep for 5-7 years.
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.