April 4, 2024 - Dark inky purple/red in color. Complex aromas of black small fruits, menthol/camphor, baking and savory spices on the nose. Very juicy on the palate showing crushed sweet blackberries, cassis, savory Indian spices, medium acidity, fully resolved tannins and a long finish dominated by menthol. This is very good. I guess a small nit is that it is perhaps too polished and modern and does not show the 'typicity' and 'rusticity' of a Crozes.
February 12, 2024 - Drank 4 bottles with friends watching the big game. A significant improvement over previous bottles. Less flash, more complexity. Still round, but also showing some minerality and earth which was nice. Good glug of Rhone if still a bit too stylized. (89)
January 9, 2024 - Very good, but not sensational. Full, but not particularly complex. Plenty of life left in this, I reckon.
December 2, 2023 - Dark reddish purple. The aromas take a while to show smoky blackberries, dried spiced meat, Indian spices and violets. A full to medium bodied palate shows sweet black fruits, hint of black olives, medium acidity, fine tannins and a savory, meaty finish.
October 26, 2023 - Popped and poured.
Dark purple color;
Softened tannins; deeply integrated with lots of black fruit.
October 8, 2023 - 20 minute decant (significant sediment). Impressive perfumed nose of dark fruit with hints of smoked meat. Nice rich dark fruit with impressive concentration on the palate with notes of smoked meat and graphite. Long smooth finish. Excellent overall and drinking very well right now.
September 28, 2023 - Drinking perfectly right now. Everything in harmony. Exactly what you'd expect. Drink now, community tasting window might be a touch long, based on this bottle. Paired great with roasted garlic pork loin.
May 27, 2023 - Great concentration, plum to prune, dark cherries, lovely balance, nice length, great effort for its age
May 10, 2023 - Wurde in den letzten Jahren immner besser; schöne Nase und kräftig im Mund ohne Tannin. Sicher noch gut bis 2025.
April 21, 2023 - Don’t PnP this! It’s a big wine and throws quite a sediment. On Day 1 this showed more like a Cornas. A bit out of balance. Beautiful ripe black fruit nose (hedgerow blackberry), some oak. Intensely dark, powerful, inky robe. Black olives and a thick seam of sappy, fresh, herbal bitterness with enough tannin for a good few more years yet. Long finish. Lots of depth and concentration, clearly an old vine wine. Day 2 showed much more harmony and that intense bitterness had subsided. Needs big, meaty, rich food, like a game casserole. Seriously good value on the secondary market. Crozes generally may not be that interesting an AOC but this is from the 1% of seriously good vineyards in the area, and the class shows. Drink or hold.