Gilles Robin Crozes-Hermitage Cuvee Alberic Bouvet 2013
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Not shy on toast, but this is polished and integrated, with a mocha note melded to crushed plum and blackberry confiture flavors. Offers a long, tobacco- and cedar-edged finish. Solid, featuring a well-buried iron detail. Best from 2017 through 2020. 126 cases imported.
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With a family history of winegrowing spanning four generations, Gilles Robin started in the wine business the way many in the Rhône do: his family sold grapes to the local cooperative. Nestled against the hillsides of Hermitage and Sant-Joseph in the appellation of Crozes-Hermitage, the first vineyard was planted in the late 1940s by Gilles’ grandparents, and it is this fruit that makes up his Cuvée Alberic Bouvet, named for his grandfather.
This cuvée is aged in oak barrels, of which 20% are new. The Cuvée Papillon is the product of vines Gilles planted in 1996; it is aged entirely in tank to preserve its fresh and delicate fruit. The estate now totals 15 hectares, including one planted with white varietals and a small parcel of Syrah in Saint-Joseph. His vines are planted in the stony and sandy La Terrace de Chassis district. An understated, meticulous winemaker, Gilles farms his plots organically, believing this is the best way to honestly give voice to the terroir.
Gilles Robin has truly elevated his family estate, producing powerful, elegant, and precise wines – excellent representations of Crozes-Hermitage.
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.”
One of the smallest and most important Syrah regions of northern Rhone, Hermitage is practically one single south-facing slope of crushed granite, thinly covered with varied, yet well-charted soil types. Many climats (well identified parcels) exist within Hermitage and while some smaller producers make single climat Syrahs, some larger ones blend to make one balanced expression of the appellation.
Though the AC regulations allow the addition of up to 15% white grapes to a red Hermitage, in practice it is usually made from Syrah alone. Winemaking is pretty traditional—or you might say historic—with hot fermentations and aging in older barrels of various sizes. The best wines, characterized by deep, dense and sexy flavors of black fruit, cocoa, licorice and tobacco, have massive textures and a solid 10-20 years aging potential.
The region of Hermitage is totally enclosed; the only place it could go really is to literally fall down its own hill into the city of Tain or the Rhone River. Soil erosion is a problem and terraces exist alongside the hill in order to keep the earth in place. Crozes-Hermitage encloses the region entirely to its north and south.
While Hermitage seems synonymous with some of the best Syrah on the planet, actually about one third of the wine produced here comes from white grapes. The full, lush and robust Marsanne or the less common, but almost more charming, Roussanne create wonderful whites in which the best have great potential for aging, like the reds.