Wine Advisor
Delas, Cote Rotie La Landonne 2019
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Joe Czerwinski
The 2019 Cote Rotie La Landonne features its typical dark, meaty, espresso-like aromas, leavened by hints of raspberry and black cherry. It's full-bodied and concentrated but supple and relatively approachable, with soft, velvety tannins and a long, mouthwatering finish. It's delicious now, but I would not be surprised to see it close up for several years before reemerging into maturity, so catch it now, or hold it another 5+ years.
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Opaque ruby. Intensely perfumed, spice- and mineral accented blackberry, cherry liqueur, potpourri, pipe tobacco and licorice on the penetrating nose. Sweet, spicy and focused on the palate, displaying impressively deep, ripe dark berry, kirsch, exotic spice and fruitcake flavors that slowly flesh out with aeration. Shows superb clarity and drive and finishes smoky and impressively long, with steadily building tannins and a lingering suggestion of candied violet.
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Expressive blackberry, potpourri, smoky bacon and licorice aromas show excellent clarity and minerally lift. Deeply concentrated, spice-laced dark berry preserve, floral pastille and fruitcake flavors are supported by a spine of juicy acidity that adds back-end cut. Becomes more energetic on the impressively persistent finish, which repeats the dark berry and floral notes and leaves behind a spicy suggestion of cracked pepper.
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.
