2009 Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage- France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Crozes-Hermitage (5/1/2016)
In the search for the next big thing, solid wines like this often get overlooked. It’s not flashy, but it is textbook Syrah. If I want someone to know what Syrah tastes like this is a perfect wine for them to drink. The fruit is dark. There are ample herbal and tar accents, and a finishing hit of roasted meat. Add to that the price of $30, and it’s a mystery why I don’t drink more of this.
My experience with Graillot is that the wines are “solid,” as you say, but nothing more. They strike me as being four-square and have little “give” to them. I held the 1998 Crozes-Hermitage Guiraude for more than 15 years and it remained hard and not very interesting. Just my $.02.
Couldn’t disagree more with this. Twice, at tastings with big boy or ‘trendy’ syrahs, the humble Graillot has been WOTN. And the price increases, especially for the La Guiraude, reflect that the market thinks the wines are as good as anything in the Rhone not staring with “La” or “Ch”.
I’m a fan of Graillot. I find the regular bottling can be just luscious young – a mouthful of pure, primary syrah flavors. It can be chuggable. I’m not convinced it warrants aging, though I’ve never held them a long time. Four bottles of the 2006 (admittedly not the strongest vintage) drunk from 2009 through last year never came close to the charm the wine showed on release.
I know one of those occasions (at my place) the Graillot was simply much more accessible than the bigger Northern Rhones in the tasting, which I liked better than you did. I didn’t think it was the WOTN – just the most drinkable at that juncture. As for what price represents, Chapoutier and even Delas get some pretty lofty prices these days.
I’ve had mixed results over the past few years. A recent 2012 “regular” Crozes was uninspiring, which was a bit of a disappointment as I was hoping for something that would encourage me to take advantage of the still fairly good pricing on these wines. OTOH, a 2007 “Guiraude” bottle was simply stellar, in a weak-ish vintage. So I will continue following the wines, and give them a try each vintage, but may gravitate toward the Guiraude for aging.
Footnote: I thought the 2010 regular bottling was outstanding young. Haven’t opened on in a couple of years. I had a 2013 recent that was good on the second night, but the price was up over $35 here in NY, so I was not moved to buy.
I don’t recall the last vintage of the basic Crozes-Hermitage that I had, but it was uninspiring enough that I never went back. My last bottle of the 1998 La Guiraude was completely obliterated by the 1997 Fonsalette Syrah. My experience/my palate.
That’s just, like, your opinion man. IIRC, it was the group #1, and that tasting was blind. I also had a Guiraude once alongside a Gonon St. Joseph and another very good Syrah the identity of which escapes me, and the Graillot was, to my palate, obviously the best wine on the table.
I think the Graillot may have ranked first… because it was most approachable. That didn’t make it the most serious wine. As I recall, you didn’t like the ones with stems in that group.
Have to agree with Martin. In the past, Graillot’s wines needed years to shed hefty tannins, which then produced a pleasing drink but they always retain their chunkiness. They are nice and do hold, but do not blossom into swans.
Yup - that’s a great one. I remember a dinner with some Chave and fancy Cote-Rotie on the table and the '90 Guiraude was easily the highlight.
My understanding is Guiraude is basically a “reserve” wine - selection of the best barrels - rather than a site designation. The regular Crozes is terrific too.
I just had this 98 Guiraude two months ago. I found it a beautifully mature Syrah at its peak with vibrant blackberry fruit, refreshing acidity and the classic combination of tapenade and black pepper. Definitely not angular, its evaporation rate was very high. Hard to imagine Crozes getting much better.
Very similar experience for me, I brought a '90 La Guiraude to a dinner where the '90 Chave and '90 La Chapelle were being served. Everyone agreed the La Guiraude was the wine of the night. This was in 2003.
+1 to this, I have had this twice in the last year.
To John’s point though, the 98 La Guiraude was tightly wound with almost painful acidity on release. It’s blossomed into a lovely wine (IMO) at this point but all of Graillot’s wines I’ve tasted(the wines are still a yearly buy for me) from 06 onward have been much more open knit and approachable. That said at a tasting with a number of local wine professionals in March, the 2013 Crozes Hermitage was one of the two favorites of the group.
We drank the 2012 Paris 30 Granit and the 2012 Graillot Crozes alongside each other. The Paris was much more polished and dark fruited (black and blueberry in a good way) and the Graillot was more lean, spice and pepper with blackberry on the back end. Neither one was funky in the way I want in the northern Rhone. It was an interesting contrast in two wines that are basically the same price.