Wine & Spirits - February 2021 - 46

Year's Best Northern Rhône Wines
278601
Hermitage in 2018: It's firm and spicy, with
a meaty, sanguine tang to the ink-dark fruit
and a sense of cool stone in its reserve. It also
lasts for days after opening, firm and lithe,
boding well for its future should you want to
cellar it. § North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA
279577

93 | Domaine Melody

$20

2019 Crozes-Hermitage Friandise (Best
Buy) ^ Grape grower Denis Larivière started
bottling wines in 2010 with the help of
winemakers Marlène Durand and Mark
Romak. They make Friandise from the fruit
of the young vines on the 40-acre estate. In
2019, the wine has a neon brightness to its
flavors, the purple fruit electric in its energy.
It's lush but lifted, with the scent of flowers
and of the forest on a cool, sunny day. It may
be a little blunt in its youth, but it remains
fresh and vital for days after opening,
testament to its quality. § Opici, Glen Rock, NJ

91 | E. Guigal

$35

2017 Crozes-Hermitage ^ Richly plummy,
this is syrah in all its violet-scented goodness.
It has all the variety's hallmarks when grown
in the Rhône-bacon, violets, plums and
spice-with wood notes playing backup.
The warmth of the vintage reads in the grip
of the tannins and the heat of the alcohol,
but also in the wine's appealing generosity.
(W&S 10/20) § Vintus, NY
279604

90 | Christelle Betton

$42

2018 Crozes-Hermitage Caprice ^ Betton's
old-vine cuvée, this is tight and green,
needing air to relax into a more lilac-scented,
purple-fruited red. The acidity intensifies the
feeling of briskness, giving the wine a lively
feel, and suggesting that it would benefit
from time in the cellar. § North Berkeley
Imports, Berkeley, CA
279599

90 | Château de
Saint Cosme

H E R M I TA G E
279572

92 | Domaine
Les Alexandrins

$44

95 | E. Guigal

91 | Domaine Combier

$42

2018 Crozes-Hermitage ^ This is seductively
dark and chocolatey, with firm blueberry
fruit and black-pepper spice. It's so inky in its
depths that it's hard to perceive the details,
but its sense of size and breadth suggests that
there's more to come with time in the bottle. §
Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL
279538
2018 Crozes-Hermitage ^ The Combiers
have been farming their land organically for
nearly 50 years. This wine, from a number of
sites around Pont de l'Isère, is fermented in
stainless steel and aged in used oak barrels,
culminating in a Crozes that stands out for
its pure fruit flavor. It's all floral purple plums
and black pepper, smooth and suave, fresh
and readily approachable. § Cape Classics, NY
279563

91 | Ferraton Père & Fils

$29

2018 Crozes-Hermitage La Matinière ^
Spicy and herbal, this has a seedy-strawberry
brightness within its boysenberry-purple
fruit. It's ripe and chewy, with firm tannins
that give it the grip for fatty lamb chops off
the grill. § Sera Wine Imports, NY
46

WINE & SPIRITS

FEBRUARY 2021

$75

2017 Hermitage ^ Yes, there's the sumptuous
oak that's a hallmark of Guigal reds, as well
as a hedonistic chocolatey density of flavor.
There's red fruit and warm spice, licorice and
earth, and a meaty flavor akin to the crispy,
salty bits on the bottom of a roasting pan.
But the standout element in this wine is its
combination of steadfast tannic power and
grace. It brings to mind Richard Serra's iron
sculptures, monolithic, voluptuous and built
to last for ages. § Vintus, NY
279552

95 | Delas Frères

$97

90 | Ferraton Père & Fils

$82

2018 Hermitage ^ This stands out in the
warm 2018 vintage for its restraint. It smells
of roses, from the delicate petals to the green
stems, and tastes of cherries, perfectly ripe
and red, with deeper notes of freshly turned
soil and warm stone that give it gravitas
without weight. It's pretty yet firm-rock
steady, with an energy and freshness that
lasts. § Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL
279561
2017 Hermitage Les Miaux ^ A dense,
chocolatey Hermitage, this darkens its redfruit tones with notes of black olive and
smoky caramelized oak tones. It's solid and
foursquare, built for a steakhouse meal. § Sera
Wine Imports, NY

ST-JOSEPH
279573

$36

2018 Crozes-Hermitage ^ This is dark and
spicy, with a ray of sweet red-cherry flavor
that keeps it feeling fresh and bright despite
its blueberry-ripe intensity. The alcohol adds
extra spice that, together with the tannins,
make this a big-boned Crozes for meaty
dishes. § Winebow Imports, NY
79514

93 | Maison
Les Alexandrins

$290

2018 Hermitage Les Bessards ^ Made only
in top years, this comes from a plot of vines
planted in Les Bessards' granite soils in 1946.
It's an intense, concentrated red in 2018,
the fruit nestled deeply into earthy tannins
and swathed in chocolatey oak. For all that
density, everything feels in harmony, the
flavors complex, seamless and lasting for
minutes after each sip. This isn't a wine you
can rush: Best to set it aside for a decade
before uncorking for a grand meal. § Maisons
Marques & Domaines, Oakland, CA
279515

95 | E. Guigal

$125

95 | E. Guigal

$75

2017 St-Joseph Vignes de l'Hospice ^ The
Guigals never intended to buy land in
St-Joseph, until they saw the parcels that JeanLouis Grippat was offering them upon his
retirement: The vines in Vignes de l'Hospice
occupy a vertiginously steep slope right
behind the town of Tournon, the scrabbly,
granite-based soil held in place by a series of
terraces. They vinify this wine as they do their
Côte-Rôties, in stainless-steel tanks, followed
by 30 months in new barrels they cooper on
site. The wood takes prominence at first,
adding an extravagant amount of smoky,
toasty caramel and spice to the aroma. But
the fruit comes up with air, concentrated and
powerful, with a saline minerality that keeps
it lifted and mouthwatering. This is built for
the long term. § Vintus, NY
278603
2017 St-Joseph Lieu Dit ^ This comes from
the vineyard that gave St-Joseph its name,
a south-facing parcel of granite in Tournon
that grew a garnet-hued beauty in 2017. It's
appealing from the very first whiff, a mix
of oak smoke and spicy black plum. While
the oak notes from two years in barrels are
prominent, the wine feels balanced, the
meaty fruit absorbing their impact without
losing any of its freshness. You could drink
this now for the sexy opulence of its baconsmoked flavors, but it's structured to age for
a decade or more. (W&S 10/20) § Vintus, NY
279551
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/maison+les+alexandrine+rouge+croze+hermitage+rhone+france/2018
Wine & Spirits - February 2021

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