Ratings:
96-100
Robert Parker - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
" Between 900 and 1,000 cases are normally made of the luxury cuvee, the Hermitage Les Bessards. An astonishing wine for the vintage, the 2011 is a candidate for the wine of the year in the entire Rhone Valley. Its black/purple color is accompanied by copious aromas of pen ink, licorice, blackberries, cassis and crushed rocks, huge body, sweet tannin, and extravagant, nearly over-the-top richness and density that nearly defy the vintage character. This is a remarkable achievement from an outstanding terroir and one of France’s finest winemaking teams. Forget it for 3-4 years and drink it over the following 2-3 decades."
99 Jeb Dunnuck - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
"Even better and one of the top two to three wines in the vintage, the 2011 Hermitage Les Bessards (100% Syrah that spent 16 months in 70% new French oak) possesses an inky purple color to go with a fabulously rich, pure bouquet of smoked earth, ground pepper, underbrush and licorice that’s supported by awesome black raspberry and cassis-styled fruit. Full-bodied, seamless and layered, with masses of sweet tannin and notable structure, this beauty bucks the vintage stereotype and will need short-term cellaring to become approachable. It will have 2-3 decades of longevity."
Product Description:
Wine:
"A brilliant, deep red hue with lots of depth. The nose show great class, with soft aromas of blackberries and violets. Hermitage "Les Bessards" shows plenty of concentration in its fruit. This is a wine with a particularly dense tannic structure, and extremely good balance.
The Hermitage "Les Bessards" is named after a sub-region of the Hermitage appellation, where the steeply terraced hillside vineyards have an excellent southwestern exposure. Those vineyards produce some of the world's most intense, dense wines from the rich Syrah varietal. Delas owns 25 acres in this prized region, which is a large amount by Rhone standards." - Importer
Winery:
"Delas Freres is a winery of tradition and renewal. Founded 160 years ago in the heart of the northern Côtes du Rhône, the winery enjoyed the dynamism of its original founders and their heirs and more recently, the renewed energy of the Lallier-Deutz family, owners of champagne house, Champagne Deutz.
Delas Freres and Champagne Deutz were acquired by the Champagne House of Louis Roederer in 1993. Andre Lallier retired from daily winery duties in 1996, and Fabrice Rosset, a 20-year executive with Roederer, has taken the helm at both Delas and Deutz.
Today, the Delas wines are crafted by a panel of experts headed by winemaker Jacques Grange. Together, the team makes wines that have been heralded for their intensity of flavor and excellent value." - Importer
Our biggest wine deals. Available by text! Join Winetext.com today!
