Delas Freres Domaine des Tourettes Hermitage Rouge 2018

Delas Frères’ 2018 Hermitage Domaine des Tourettes is a rocking great wine from a historic house that has become one of the top producers in the Northern Rhone over the last two decades. We scored 10 cases of this 100% syrah – at a cool $50 less than you’d pay retail! 96 points and one that will shine in your collection for decades to come!

Founded in 1835, Delas Frères is a Rhone legend – as negociants, grape growers, and wine producers across both the northern and southern Rhone Valley. The estate ran into financial difficulties in the efforts to rebound after World War II, and up until about 30 years ago, it had been a struggle to return to its premier status as a top power in Hermitage. Enter the Rouzaud family, the folks behind Louis Roederer, and a partnership was struck that ensured this estate would not simply survive – but thrive!

This Domaine des Tourettes cuvée is one of the happy by-products of that partnership. With a complete reevaluation of their vineyard and winemaking practices, as well as significant refurbishment to their production capabilities, and increased grower relationships and estate fruit – Delas Frères is firing on all cylinders. This combines fruit from three parcels in Hermitage – L'Ermite, le Sabot, and the iconic, les Bessards. The grapes are hand-harvested and fermented in open-top concrete tanks following a two-day cold soak. Maceration on the skins occurs for 20 days, ten of which are active with pump-overs and breaking up the cap.

The wine is youthfully taut, and broodingly powerful – as any top Hermitage 2018 is bound to be. That said, it opens up nicely, and fairly quickly in the glass – revealing an aromatic character of violet pastilles and lavender, with blackberries, plums, blueberries for fruit, and a classic savory, smoked meat and black pepper edge that is so distinctly syrah. The flavors are much the same, and yet ever more, with developing accents of black olive tapenade, crushed gravel, graphite, licorice, kirsch, and a whisper of sweet tobacco smoke. Impressively layered, and deep, this is a growing giant...and one that will hold its own against syrahs more than twice the price! Remember...only ten cases, so to the fastest fingers goes the impeccable 96 point Hermitage today!

PAIRING IDEAS: I was fortunate enough to recently dine at Anair – a Michelin-starred restaurant in Galway, Ireland. Of the many, many great courses they featured – one stands out as the perfect fit for this powerful wine. They roasted a whole lamb shoulder in a bed of hay, until it was fork tender, and nicely caramelized on the outside, before torching the hay and covering it to infuse it with the smoke. It was straightforward delicious – meaty, sweet, smoky, and fantastically carnivorous. A bit of lamb jus, some roasted carrots, and a big ol’ glass of this...perfection!