David Reynaud Crozes Hermitage Cuvee Beaumont 2022
- Regular price
- $19.99
- Regular price
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$39.99 - Sale price
- $19.99
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Country/State France
Region Rhone
Subregion Crozes Hermitage
Vineyard/Proprietary
Type Syrah
Read About the WineGet to Know This Product
Crozes-Hermitage is the place. Shunned by wine-cognoscenti as “not Hermitage”, “Crozes” is the long hillside slope behind the hill of Hermitage, France, in the Northern Rhone. Think of it as Beverly Hills 9-0-2-1-1.
Yet this slice of real estate is beautiful for us – those of us who drink for pleasure. It can, in the hands of the best producers, in the best vintages, offer one of the world’s most amazing Syrahs (Shiraz if you’re of Aussie persuasion), that has it all.
And David Reynaud has one of the most beautiful parcels in Crozes, and one of the best pedigrees of its new wave of winemakers. For years,the legendary Alain Graillot was king of Crozes, training and mentoring many of the winemakers that have taken up his mantle since his death in 2022.
David sits atop this new generation of winemakers. His family has farmed this land in the shadow of Hermitage for nearly 150 years, and until 1988 sold grapes to the famous Tain l’Hermitage cooperative. David's mother Marceline began a shift towards producing their own, and when David took the reins a quarter century ago, he started moving toward wholly organic and biodynamic practices in the vineyards. They use no machinery in the vineyard, pruning and harvesting by hand, and still tilling and plowing using horses.
Hermitage, in my tasting experience, is about structural power. And Crozes, the best Crozes, Reynauud’s 2022 Crozes, plays the suit. Black and red fruits dominate the flavor but with a rich and deep core: raspberries, violets, spice box, roasted cedar and toasted bread providing layers and depth.
You will feel the youth of the wine, coming from a single parcel of young vines on the property, and relish its enthusiastic muscularity. Hermitage is a 20-year wine, while Crozes works now. But don’t cheat yourself. If you have the means, lay some up for the future.
Try one now, maybe one in three, one in five, one in nine years (or months) from now. I think you’ll love this “baby brother” to one of the most elite wines in the world.
