Q on '09 Delas Crozes-Hermitage Le Clos (and general N. Rhone Q)

Of all the top-tier red regions, I know the least about northern Rhone. I just tried this wine tonight and it was okay, but a bit green and overly ripe at the same time. I was looking for the characteristic Syrah bacon/pepper notes, and I got something that tasted like a ripe Zin with green pepper notes. Any thoughts would be appreciated on this producer, vintage, appellation, etc.

And…how does '09 compare to '10 in this region to those who have tasted them both?

Thanks.

I have no real thoughts on Delas, but this wouldn’t be my starting point for a N. Rhone exploration. I think that the N. Rhone can be tough to get a handle on because it is really small, productions are small, and prices are high. There is no bottom-up approach like in other regions. Or rather, there is but to make such an approach requires finding wines made in micro quantities, like top producers’ N. Rhone Cotes du Rhones, and the prices still tend to be quite high, particularly when compared to the neighbors to the South. You can typically buy CDP for what a N. Rhone CDR or VdP costs, or a more entry level appellation like St. Joseph or Crozes. However, having said that, if you like the non-fruit aspects of wine the N. Rhone is a must, and even my limited experience has led me to the conclusion that Syrah from anywhere else is a very poor substitute. What they do there is to make the wines that emphasize those incredible bacon, olive, smoke, tar, etc. flavors, marry them to great pure fruit flavors, and do so without making the hot mess that Syrah tends to yield in many other locales. All of this and I don’t even really know the wines with age because I just don’t have that level of experience with the older wines.

In any case, from experience and wine literature, Crozes is historically home to a lot of crap. I believe that they have a lot of flatland as opposed to the steep, terraced river bank vineyards that make the region’s prize wines. Regardless, I am sure that there are good wines from there, but I’d be careful selecting. I like Graillot and maybe Yann Chave. I am sure that there are more but I don’t know them.

I like St. Joseph a lot. Maybe that’s just because I drink Gonon. Gonon is awesome. It is, IMO, all of the things that I mention above as being good about the region, and at a good price (for the region, but also good objectively). Graillot also makes a good St. Jo.

Cornas is good but while it was once cheap, or so I understand, this is not the case anymore, at least not by my standards. Still, try Clape, Vogue, Vincent Paris makes a reasonably priced Cornas I seem to recall.

Hermitage and Cote Rotie are the big Dogs, and I have little experience. I have had some very nice wines from smaller producers and even some good wines from the likes of Guigal’s CR brune et blonde blend, particularly with some age ('90 drank well recently with no hurry).

As for vintage, 2009 is a big ripe year, as it is elsewhere in France, but I suspect there’ll be great wines. So its possible that the wine you tried: a) is in a dormant phase and needs time, b) was a bad bottle (maybe corked if aromatically challenged) or c) simply sucks.

I’d do some searches here of those appellations and get some good name recs, or try those I mention. If you like those notes you mention in Syrah, then you’re clearly on the right track. You’ll get, IMO, much more of that here than from Syrah produced elsewhere, particularly in warmer climates where the fruit gets too jammy and obscures these subtleties.

Good luck.

Great, thanks - that is extremely helpful. I’ll be trying quite a few more of these.

chris,


Did you decant? This is a great Northern Rhone Vintage and these wines need cellaring. I would decant at least 3 or 4 hours to even get the wine open. Delas makes wonderful wines and for the cost is a good place to start.

I decanted for an hour only, so that might very well be the problem. I have a St. Joseph by them that I’m planning to try soon and will follow your advice. Thanks!