OMG 2021 Northern Rhônes...
OMG 2021 Northern Rhônes...
We're please to offer - again - some of the most authentic and age-worthy wines of the Northern Rhone! 2021 was a difficult vintage, generally producing wines with lower alcohol and higher acidity than the hot, dry years of 2018-2020. In the hands of these growers, however, the results were outstanding, offering superb terroir expression and the potential for long aging. "Thierry Allemand is never a fan of the large scale, solar vintages, so gave this enthusiastic comment: "2021 we adore; like in the old days..." - quoted in drinkrhone.
Domaine Levet
Daughter Agnès is at the helm, and she continues to work their vertiginous, unforgiving terrain with bred-in-bone skill. Labor in this appellation is unavoidably manual and treacherous, with many terraces so narrow as to accommodate but a single row of vines, which plunge for water through scant topsoil and meters of pure schist. The wines today are produced in the same doggedly old-school manner as they always have been: minimal de-stemming, natural fermentations, long macerations, élevage in mostly old foudres and tonneaux, and no filtration. Notably, all of Levet’s holdings are of the petite serine strain of Syrah—the ancient local strain of the region, whose smaller-berried, more aerated clusters produce wines of deeply savory fruit and intense spice"
Guillaume Gilles
A local native, Guillaume Gilles learned the ropes through stages with Jean-Louis Chave and Robert Michel between 2000 and 2004, and in fact, until very recently when he relocated to his newly constructed winery high up in Les Rieux, he made his wines in Michel’s tiny old underground cellar in the heart of the village. Furthermore, Guillaume’s flagship Cornas is produced primarily from vineyards in Chaillot, which were the source of Michel’s well-known “Cuvée des Coteaux.” A brilliant farmer, Guillaume eschews chemicals in the vineyards, working his three hectares completely by hand. He vinifies in concrete, uses only naturally occurring yeasts, and employs only whole clusters in his vinifications—a vital factor in his wines’ intoxicating aromatics and a resounding statement of his old-school sensibilities."
Domaine Lionnet
"The Lionnet family has been farming in Cornas since 1575, and the five-hectare domaine today comprises an impressive array of very old vines in some of the area’s greatest sites. In 2003, Corinne Lionnet and her husband Ludovic Izerable—originally from Grenoble—assumed control of the family holdings, and we have witnessed with great delight a steady and remarkable improvement over the ensuing vintages. Although Lionnet’s practices are quite close to that of Gilles—natural fermentations, no de-stemming, neutral 600-liter barrels for ageing—the wines are more chiseled, leaner and slightly sterner in their youth, yet equally profound in personality and revelatory with proper bottle age." (Courtesy of DrinkRhone)
Domaine Dumien Serrette
"Domaine Dumien-Serrette is the type of throw-back, traditional winery that you hope to stumble upon when you are searching for wines from the Northern Rhone. They make approximately 1000 cases total per year, not enough to live off of without the supplement of a full-time job. The wines are a throw-back to a style that is found less and less today. They own mostly old vines, some exceeding 100 years-old, and farming is organic, but not certified. In 2021, half the stems were retained, and in 2022, all the stems - back to the past, in other words." Enjoy the very Burgundian "Patou" now and over the next 20 years...
Ridiculously low net prices; Quantites are limited; Wines arrive 10/11
Levet 2021 Côte-Rotie "Chavaroche"
100% Syrah, 60% from Chavaroche (1940s), 40% from Mollard, Côte Brune, Côte Blonde (1978-80), whole bunch fermentation, 3 week vinification in 50 hl concrete vats, cap is immersed, twice daily pumping overs, held at 29°C , aged in 30% new,...
$104.99
Levet 2021 Cote-Rotie "Journaries"
100% Syrah, 60% from west part of La Landonne (1940s, before 1953, gets early sun), 40% Côte Brune (late 1980s, 1990), Côte Blonde (1978-80), Côte Rozier, 30-50% destemmed, 3 week vinification in 50 hl concrete vats, cap is immersed, twice...
$94.99
Gilles, Guillaume 2021 Cornas
"Gilles’s flagship Cornas comprises three separate parcels, all within the renowned vineyard of Chaillot, planted between the early-1950s and the mid-1970s) " dark red; the nose makes a statement, an noted air of blood, with mulled raspberry, herbs, licorice, a...
$99.99
Lionnet 2021 Cornas "Terre Brulée"
("from very old vines, between 40 to 100 years of age, in several notable Cornas vineyards, which are all blended into their flagship cuvée “Terre Brûlée”: Mazards, with granite-inflected soils of clay-limestone, is dark and powerful; Chaillot contributes classic granitic...
$73.99
Dumien Serrette 2021 Cornas "Patou" Vieilles Vignes
Dumien-Serrette is a happily old-fashioned estate in Cornas with 1.5 hectares in the Patou vineyard, which has primarily granitic soils; the remainder, .3 hectares, is located in Les Savaux. The vines in Patou date back to the 1920’s, with some...
$49.99
