Wine Advisor
Delas, Cote Rotie La Landonne 2015
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Opaque ruby. Heady aromas of candied dark berries, incense, olive and licorice are complemented by suggestions of candied violet and exotic spices. Supple, deeply flavored and lively as well, offering powerful blueberry, spicecake, salty olive and floral pastille flavors and a peppery nuance that builds with air. Finishes smooth, floral and extremely long, with lingering sweetness and subtle, slow-building tannins.
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Dark purple. Potent smoke- and spice-accented aromas of ripe black and blue fruits, licorice and violet, enlivened by a zesty mineral element. Sweet and expansive on the palate, offering deeply concentrated boysenberry and cassis flavors and suggestions of star anise, olive and allspice. The smoky quality repeats emphatically on an extremely long, sweet finish framed by smooth tannins.
Reviewed by: Jeb Dunnuck
There are two Côte Rôties and the top cuvée is the utterly sensational 2015 Côte Rôtie La Landonne, which should be a candidate for perfection when it’s released. Coming all from the La Landonne lieu-dit and made from 100% Syrah that will see 18 months in 40% new French oak, it offers a huge, layered and ripe style, as well as notes of blueberries, blackberries, crushed violets, graphite and minerality. It has sweet tannin, but there are plenty of them, so it’s not for those looking for instant gratification.
Reviewed by: Joe Czerwinski
With only about 100 cases produced each year, finding a bottle of the 2015 Cote Rotie la Landonne will prove much harder than drinking it. It's indeed a terrific wine but a bit closed and cedary at this particular moment, the 40% new oak standing out on the nose. But this cuvée has a long track record of excellence, so expect it to blossom with time in the cellar. It's concentrated and powerful but amazingly light on its feet, with firm, ample tannins that manage to convey a sense of ripeness as well. Tar, black olive, cassis and espresso elements all speak to the grape (100% Syrah) and the single lieu-dit origin.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
Very impressive dark stony and peppery aromas with ripe blackberry and licorice. Attractive brooding style. The palate has a wealth of spicy blackberry fruit flavors. Plush tannins and a warming mocha-dusted finish. Drink from 2020.
About the Producer
The famous Drass Frère wine company was founded in 1835. Since 1996, the spirit and soul that contributed to the reputation of quality wines has been restored. At present, the Dras brothers have a total of 30 hectares of vineyards, 10 of which are in the Emmettage-Hermitage appellation, 2 in Saint-Joseph and the remaining 18 in Croze-Hermitage. The steep granite hillsides provide favourable growing conditions for the vineyards of the Hermitage appellation, which produces the best quality wines. The grapes are hand-harvested and the fruit is intact and not prone to premature crushing, and in 1996 the estate was renovated by replacing all the old stainless steel fermentation vats with 85 litre concrete vats, and the 2,500 litre old oak barrels were replaced by 600 Burgundy oak barrels. The renovation of the equipment has allowed the winery to separate the fermentation of different batches of grapes, set the fermentation temperature according to the needs of the different varieties, and to monitor them in a targeted manner. The winery uses the gravity artesian method in the vinification process, where the fruit is crushed and poured by gravity into the fermentation vats. After fermentation and pressing, the wine is decanted into oak barrels where malolactic fermentation takes place. The main grape variety is Syrah, but the estate also produces some white wines, mainly made from Marsanne and Viognier. The wines of the Delas Brothers include Domaine des Tourettes, Les Bessards, Seigneur de Maugiron and Francois de Tournon. Francois de Tournon, among others.
