2020 Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage

Arguably the touchstone example of Croze-Hermitage. Deep and broody, it's one to contemplate.

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Description

This wine is considered a benchmark for this French appellation. It is the highest-rated Crozes Domaine in France's leading wine guide, Revue du Vin de France's Le Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France, and rightfully so.

It is a tribute to the fastidious organic vineyard practices that Alain, and now his sons, Maxime and Antoine, have employed on their great vineyard holdings across the northern Rhone.

The vines are gnarled from decades in the rocky soils of Crozes, yet they are manicured and tended with the utmost care.

It's the power and definition in this wine that sets it apart from other examples of the region. It's smoky, spicy, brooding and deep and without question one of the finest examples of Syrah you will find from Crozes-Hermitage.

With regards to the winemaking, the organically farmed grapes were loaded (crushed without destemming) into lined concrete vats for a two- to five-day pre-ferment maceration. After a natural yeast fermentation, the wine was aged in used François Frères barriques (between one and seven years old) purchased from some of the finest estates in Burgundy. Since the 2011 vintage, 20-hectolitre Stockinger ovals have also begun to play a quiet, yet growing, role.

At this young stage, it’s a Syrah of super-charged aromatic intensity, with dark berries, purple florals and warm spices mingling with the vineyard’s soil-to-glass ferrous and mineral tones. The palate, suave and long, builds in the mouth with a similar intensity of black olive, smoky charcuterie and graphite mineral tang, carried by seamless texture and a charge of energy and flavour at the finish. It will only get better and better with some age, but right now it’s already a flat-out charming and delicious Graillot thoroughbred.

Region: Crozes-Hermitage, France
Blend: Shiraz (100%)
ABV:
Closure: 750ml
Bottle Size:
Production:

93 Points - "The 2020 in Crozes shines with its balance and the beautiful burst of fruit, all in smoothness and indulgence, but with a lot of background. If it is difficult to resist it, it is perfectly capable of waiting a few years in the cellar. An admirable classic." - La Revue du Vins de France

92 Points - "Saturated magenta. Displays expressive red and dark berry, smoked meat, olive and floral qualities on the spice-accented nose. Sappy and penetrating on the palate, offering gently sweet cherry-cola, blackberry and baking spice flavors that show fine detail and a mineral, back-end lift. Finishes very long and subtly chewy, with repeating smokiness, harmonious tannins and strong persistence." - Josh Raynolds (Vinous)

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