Crozes-Hermitage Inspiration Domaine de la Ville Rouge
Pierre Paillardon was the wine director at Gerard Vie’s Les Trois Marches in Versailles when I met him twenty-five years ago, shortly after he was named the first Meilleur Jeune Sommelier de France (Best Young Sommelier of France). Pierre is still the best taster I know, and a good friend, who sometimes sends me a bottle or two of a wine that has profoundly impressed him, from an estate he has recently visited.
Here is a gift from Pierre that I opened a few months ago: a succulent northern Rhône Syrah, with a sweet core of fruit; unmistakably ripe blackberry and cocoa, with a fine, almost graphite-like finish; a wine that kept getting better and better by the minute as it evolved in the glass.
I had never even heard of Sébastien Girard or Domaine de la Ville Rouge before I tasted this wine. It was still in my glass when I called Pierre to find out more. “An incredible estate,” he told me.
It was Friday morning and I had work to do, but this Crozes-Hermitage wouldn’t let go. And wine like this always wins. So Pierre played courtier (not for the first time), and when I heard the price I asked Sébastien Girard if any would be available for us (I didn’t know that only 400 cases were made). Remarkably, seventy-five of those cases arrived at Moore Brothers.
Domaine de la Ville Rouge:
Sébastien Girard finished enology school in 2005, and returned to the family estate in Mercurol, where four generations of Girards had grown brilliant Syrah on the galets roulés of the Chassis plain, all sold in bulk to the cooperative at Tain l’Hermitage and the top négociants, like Guigal and Chapoutier.
On his return, Sébastien convinced his father Edgar that the best way to secure the future of the family farm would be to reserve the best grapes, and estate-bottle the wine. This wine announces Sébastien Girard’s arrival at the summit of Crozes-Hermitage.
This Wine:
In the glass, the wine is nearly opaque, with a deep purple color right to the edge. The nose develops with beautiful black fruit aromatics lightly seasoned with baking spices and a hint of white pepper. On the palate, the wine has a round and supple mouthfeel, with ripe sweet blackberries, cocoa, and subtle spices that follow through to a refreshing, fine-grained finish.
As always at Moore Brothers, this wine was shipped and delivered to us in refrigerated containers. Whether you drink it this week, or lay it down for five years in your own cool cellar, it will taste just as Sébastien and Edgar Girard intended. The wine was perfect last night with Sue’s spinach fusilli with French green lentils, adapted from a recipe in Lynne Rossetto Kasper’s The Splendid Table.
I thank you again for your continued support of small-farmers, and your participation in their stewardship of meaningful traditions.