2020 | Domaine Alain Graillot | Crozes-Hermitage

Displays expressive red and dark berry, smoked meat, olive and floral qualities on the spice-accented nose. Sappy and penetrating on the palate, offering gently sweet cherry-cola, blackberry and baking spice flavors that show fine detail and a mineral, back-end lift. Finishes very long and subtly chewy, with repeating smokiness, harmonious tannins and strong persistence.

Reviews:

• Vinous: Saturated magenta. Displays expressive red and dark berry, smoked meat, olive and floral qualities on the spice-accented nose. Sappy and penetrating on the palate, offering gently sweet cherry-cola, blackberry and baking spice flavors that show fine detail and a mineral, back-end lift. Finishes very long and subtly chewy, with repeating smokiness, harmonious tannins and strong persistence.

• Wine Advocate: I tasted three different lots of the 2020 Crozes Hermitage, picked at very different ripeness levels. One, picked on August 23 at just 11.7 degrees of potential alcohol, was light-bodied, with paper-like tannins but charming, cherry-like fruit. Another, picked September 8–10 at 13.8–13.9 degrees, shows more weight, velvety richness and darker-fruit flavors. The bulk was picked somewhere in between, with lively purple raspberry fruit, a crisp, medium-bodied feel on the palate and a bright, vibrant finish.

Producer Information

Domaine Alain Graillot is a well-regarded wine producer located in Crozes-Hermitage in the northern Rhône. Alain Graillot founded the domaine in 1985, releasing his first vintage from a rented vineyard. The domaine quickly rose to prominence and only three years after its establishment, Graillot purchased the vineyards he had been renting. Today, the domaine makes a range of predominantly Syrah-based wines in Crozes-Hermitage, Hermitage, and Saint-Joseph. The estate is comprised of around 22 hectares (54 acres) of vineyard land planted mostly to Syrah with about 3 hectares (seven acres) planted to the white varieties Marsanne and Roussanne. The Syrah from Graillot's Crozes-Hermitage vineyard was planted in 1973 on well-draining soils made of sand, gravel, and alluvial stones. Graillot also owns two parcels planted to Syrah in Saint-Joseph and a tiny plot in Hermitage. The vineyards are all farmed organically and fruit is hand-harvested. After harvest, red grapes are whole-cluster fermented in lined concrete vats. The wines are aged one year in mostly old oak barrels and are lightly filtered but not fined. La Guiraude from Crozes-Hermitage is Alain Graillot's top wine and is only bottled in the best vintages. The total production of the domaine is around 10,000 cases annually. Alain Graillot retired in 2008 and his sons Antoine and Maxime (who also runs Domaine des Lises) took over the estate. Graillot passed in March 2022 but his legacy in the Crozes-Hermitage region will be an enduring one.

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