Community Tasting Note

Rote Kappelle Likes this wine:

Saturday, August 21, 2021 - Under the Russian Roulette of cork, but this bottle is fine. Not decanted.

Colour is verging on inky purple black (or Dark Purple Blues if you like your Black Oak Arkansas - and you should, damn you!).

If you don't think Crozes-Hermitage can produce top notch wine, you should try this. The exuberance may make you think it lacks profundity - Mozart v Schubert, but in that case you should think again. Because under the enticing smokey, plum and blackberry, there is a serious structure and more complexity than one has a right to expect from Crozes.

I won't push an argument that this is as good as Hermitage or Cornas, though I think an argument could be made. What I will say is that this combines gravitas with hedonism and that, my friends, is what wine is about.

I am pleased to note that the unwiped bum elements in the 2015 Alberic Bouvet are missing from this wine, which makes me wonder if my concerns about Brettanomyces in that wine were wrong. The naughty yeast would almost certainly have infected everything from this maker.

I must add a note about the structure and texture of this wine. The tannins are fine, ripe and only really come in on the finish, where they support the wine. There is fresh acidity that keeps everything in line. This combination really lifts the wine into a special category, for me.

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