Wine Advisor
Delas, Hermitage Les Bessards 2012
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Opaque ruby. Sexy, spice-accented blackberry and cherry compote aromas are complemented by suggestions of licorice pastille and violet, with subtle olive and mineral nuances in the background. Shows excellent clarity and energy on the palate, offering bitter cherry and dark berry preserve flavors that become sweeter with air. Lithe, emphatically floral and penetrating, finishing with excellent thrust and smooth, late-arriving tannins.
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Bright purple. Highly expressive aromas and flavors of cherry compote, blackberry, smoky minerals and licorice, along with a sexy floral topnote. Displays impressive intensity to its black and blue fruit and violet pastille flavors, with juicy acidity providing lift. Finishes firmly tannic and strikingly long, with an emphatic jolt of minerality and excellent clarity.
Reviewed by: Jeb Dunnuck
Even better and most likely one of the wines of the vintage, the 2012 Hermitage Les Bessards is a massive, concentrated and yet thrillingly pure and focused Hermitage that knocks it out of the park on all accounts. Offering up an inky purple color as well as a sweet bouquet of blueberry, roasted espresso bean, powered rock and licorice, this serious, substantial effort should be hidden away for 3-4 years and enjoyed over the following two decades. Run by Jacques Grange and Claire Darnaud, Delas, which is owned by the Louis Roederer-Deutz Champagne firm, is producing no nonsense, extremely high quality efforts that are near the top of each of their respective appellations. I was consistently impressed by the wines, and they stood out in all of the larger tastings that I was able to do. In addition, I was able to taste the wines again at the domain, and again once back in the states. These are serious efforts worthy of attention. As to the Hermitages, they produce two, a standard Domaine des Tourettes, and in top vintages, the Les Bessards. In addition to the top-flight Cote Rotie and Hermitage releases, this estate produces a bevy of high quality efforts from Cornas and Saint Joseph. Importer: Maison Marques et Domaines, Oakland, CA; tel. (510) 587-2000
Reviewed by: Jeb Dunnuck
The star of the show is the 2012 Hermitage Les Bessards. Coming from the pure granite soils of the Les Bessards lieu-dit, on the western edge of the appellation, it’s made from 100% Syrah and spent 16 months in 70% new French oak. It’s an incredible wine that offers classic powdered rock-like minerality, loads of crème de cassis and black raspberry fruit, smoked meats, spice and dried-flower nuances. Complex, pure and perfumed, it’s full-bodied and seamless on the palate, with fabulous density, ultra-fine tannin structure and impeccable overall balance. Give it 3-4 years in the cellar and drink it over the following two decades.
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.
