Domaine les Alexandrins - Crozes-Hermitage - 2019

Domaine les Alexandrins - Crozes-Hermitage - 2019

Domaine les Alexandrins - The Expression of the Rhône Valley Terroir. Made from old vines, our Crozes-Hermitage is a great classic, elegant and refined, vinified using methods that faithfully uphold local traditions.
Description

A partnership between three winegrowers in the Rhône Valley – Nicolas Jaboulet, Guillaume Sorrel and Alexandre Caso – Domaine les Alexandrins crafts wines in the purest tradition of the Crozes-Hermitage and Saint-Joseph appellations. They are made from exceptional terroirs, ensuring the very finest expression of the appellation. Our Crozes-Hermitage come from a superb, four-hectare vineyard planted with old vines located in the heart of the appellation, around the villages of Chanos Curson (Chassis), Pont d’Isère (Les Flouris) and Roche de Glun (Saviauds).

Terroir

Sandy-clay soil covered in pebbles. The vines are tended in a traditional way, using methods that respect the terroir, thereby encouraging biodiversity and drawing out the very best from the grapes. This is why some of our centenary vine stocks are able to withstand the tests of time and continue to give their best.

The vintage

After the hail damage of 2019, we had to nurse our vineyards back to health with a range of gentle but complementary nutrients. This made 2020 a technically exacting year, especially since the weather reserved many surprises for us. Spring was extraordinarily hot and dry and, despite a short break in June when some welcome rain fell, summer saw a continuation of drought conditions right up until the harvest. With a high risk of mildew at the start of the season, constant and unpredictable winds, powdery mildew half way through the season and the threat of high temperatures and scorching, we were spared nothing, and it required a major effort to cope. Fortunately, the occasional shower, fairly cool nights and morning dew meant the vines did not suffer too much from the summer heat, and all our hard work seems to have paid off with the promise of a fine vintage. To avoid the hottest moments of the day, we began picking from 6 am so as to pick the grapes while they were cool. We began with the whites on August 19 and continued with the reds through until September 16. First tastings revealed aromatic wines of great freshness, with degrees rarely exceeding 13.5°. After so many twists and turns, it is a vintage that reverts to origin in a very “Northern Rhône” style, after the mediterranean vintage of 2018 and 2019.

Location

An Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée in the northern Rhône Valley since 1937, the Crozes-Hermitage vineyard lies on the left bank of the Rhône, between the Hermitage and Saint-Joseph appellations. The earliest vines in this terroir were first grown in Roman times. Its name comes from two place names: “Crozes”, from the Latin crucem, which means “cross” or “crossroads”, and “Hermitage”, from the Latin heremitagium, meaning “hermitage” in English. It refers to the hill rising above the Rhône, on the summit of which the knight Henri Gaspard de Stérimberg settled to live as a hermit on his return from the Albigensian Crusade.

Process

- Harvested by hand.
- Traditional vinification.
- 70% destemmed.
- 3-day cold maceration.
- Punching down and pumping over in alternation to break down and push in the pomace cap and draw out the aromas and tannins.
- Barrel fermentation for 20 days.
- Aged for 12 months in 2-year-old barrels.

Tasting

The Syrah shows its full expression on these 4ha of sandy clay and rolled pebbles. The colour is very intense black, with beautiful purple reflections. Deep and complex on the nose, it reveals aromas of blackcurrant, violet and spices as well as smoky notes. On the palate, it reveals all its richness and subtle dense tannins and aromas of black fruit such as cherry and blackcurrant, accompanied by fine aging in barrels. This wine has a good aging potential, it will be ideal to drink over the next six years, accompanied by grilled red meat, a spicy dish or a stew with character.

Food pairings

Grilled red meat, spicy dishes or stews with lots of flavour.

Serving

Serve between 15°C and 18°C. Right now: packed with black fruit notes. Cellaring time: ideally, drink within 5 years.

Grapes

Syrah

James Suckling

This has a stack of ripe black-cherry fruit, but also notes of rosemary, oregano and a hint of bitter chocolate. This imposing Crozes-Hermitage has as much fine tannin as it does richness, which gives it a wonderfully velvety texture. Long, plush finish. From 8 hectares of vines up to 60 years old in the Les Chaflans vineyard site. Matured only in concrete tanks and demi-muid (600 liter) oak casks. Drink or hold.
James Suckling , 93/100 , 2022-05-00

Deeply colored, juicy with dense berry fruit; spicy and long; a good showing for this appellation.
Blue Lifestyle , 92/100 , 2020-09-01