Winemaker Notes
#42 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2022
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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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Crozes-Hermitage La Matiniere offers classic Northern Rhône goodness in its gamey, violet, and darker fruited, meaty aromas and flavors. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it has more structure and precision than most Crozes as well as ripe tannins and beautiful balance. It's the finest vintage of this cuvée I've tasted.
Rating: 92+ -
Wine Spectator
A fresh and mineral-driven version, with sanguine and iron notes leading the way for a racy mix of damson plum and bitter cherry notes. Features a savory echo through the finish. Drink now through 2032.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A solid effort blended from multiple parcels around the appellation, the 2019 Crozes Hermitage La Matinière boasts attractive notes of violets, cassis and blackberries on the nose. It's medium to full-bodied and fairly rich on the palate, ending long and velvety. 7,500 cases produced.
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.