Crozes-Hermitage Syrah

See 2 previous Delectable notes. Barely medium weight. A gamey note on the nose. A dried prune note but not capturing the fuller fruit from the Rhone in 2016. Light tannins with some astringency. Rhone guru, John Livingstone-Learmonth has ranked 2016 amongst the top 3 vintages he has encountered since he began reviewing the region in the early 1970s. This wine for the vintage and the producer was disappointing. One of the 1001 wines.

Bloody meaty notes on nose and palate. Ultra savoury on the medium bodied palate - black cherries and plum skins but essentially lacking in fruit particularly for only 5 years old. Smooth balanced tannins. Excellent QPR from Alain Graillot.

Fall favorite. I forget how food friendly this is. Notes to come. Day one a bit reduced.

The nose is the best feature of this Crozes from Graillot. Berry fruit, stemmy with a gamey note. Red and black fruits on the palate with cherries noticeable - barely medium weight. Very tasty but to be critical a little thin at the end - under ripe grapes? More acidic than I was expecting. One of the 1001 wines.

One of my favorite wines. Structured, elegant and delicious. It compels a purple smile to appear when I compare it to other sought after Rhône wine prices.

Always so good

Reference point Syrah for me and although at the riper end of the Graillot scale still brimming with purity and complexity - 2016

Riper than 15’

The 2016 Crozes-Hermitage is bright and vivid, with aromas of dark wild berries, fresh flowers, dark olives, white pepper and a gorgeous saline character that all takes shape as this unwinds in the glass. On the palate this is medium-bodied with a wonderful velvety texture backed by a racy core that shows a wonderful combination of acidity and minerality that leads up the the mouthwatering finish. This continues to become more compelling as it sits in the glass, and its freshness makes it appealing today, however it should go on to evolve beautifully over the course of the next decade.

This could be my favorite young vintage of Graillot. The freshness and balance this has is awesome, almost going as far to say there’s tension in what is normally an area that produces lipsmacking Syrah with so much jovial personality. This has a serious side. So much just ripe blackberry, currant, and marion berry fruit, lavender, crack black and pink peppercorn, salt cured olive, iron, animal, licorice, spruce and that classic Graillot tar note. The mid palate and finish wrap the tongue with stony mineraity, the depth too is awesome. The acid and “focus” almost make it an outlier for the house style, but there’s so much class to it. This has dimension and posture, I’m excited to watch it evolve.