Crozes-Hermitage Les Pierrelles Domaine Belle 2021 DE
France - Domaine Belle - Syrah
Tasting Notes: The Cuvée Louis Belle pays tribute to Guillaume Belle’s grandfather, who first grew vines on this steep, south facing, kaolin-rich hillside below the ruins of the ancient Château ... de Larnage. The grapes are hand-harvested, partially destemmed, and fermented on the indigenous yeast in thermoregulated stainless steel tanks. The wine matures in a mix of new and used oak barrels for 18 months. In the glass, this elegant, old-vines Syrah has a glass staining, blue-purple color, almost opaque at the center, with flashes of bright violet just at the edge. Aromas of sun-warmed black cherries, Santa Rosa plums, crushed violets, and kalamata olives, along with aromatic suggestions of cracked peppercorns, freshly sanded cedar, roasted chestnuts, and smoked charcouterie, all move in and out of the foreground as the wine evolves in the glass. On the palate, the wine is supple and voluptuous, at the same time vibrant, refreshing, and light on its feet, with a dense core of sweet red and black-fruit flavors seasoned with saline kaolin minerality, and a long pristine finish punctuated by silky, fine-grained tannins. Drink now–2035. Read More
The estate traces its history to 1769, when Claude François Mure, the Seigneur de Larnage, granted each family in the village a small parcel of vines. By the 1930s, the estate had grown to incorporate parcels in the neighboring commune of Tain l’Hermitage, and in 1933 Philippe Belle’s grandfather, Louis, became a founding member of the cooperative. When Louis Belle retired in the 1970s, his son, Albert, made small quantities of wine for himself and his friends, and in 1990, along with his son, Philippe, built a modern winery and began estate bottling the first Domaine Belle wines in Crozes-Hermitage and Hermitage. Today, the estate covers an area of 25 hectares of vines in six communes, including a vine nursery and apricot orchard managed by Philippe’s brother, Jean-Claude. Philippe has managed Domaine Belle since 2003, and in that time has modernized the winery and converted the estate to organic viticulture. His sons Guillaume and Valentin now work with him, and together produce what Wine Advocate has called “some of Northern Rhône’s best-kept secrets.”
Phocaean Greeks established viticulture in the Rhône as far back as 600 BC, but until the 14th century the wines were not seen outside the region. The establishment of the Avignonese Papacy (1305-1377) brought fame to the region's wine - so much so that their Burgundian neighbors to the north banned wines from the Rhône in 1446, a measure that effectively cut off trade with England and other Northern European markets for over 200 years. Stretching southward from Lyon to Avignon, the Côtes du Rhône produces a wide variety of wines, with the appellations north of Valence producing the least (in volume), and the towns south of Montélimar producing prodigious amounts. As in other regions, the most interesting wines come from small farms. The reputation of Crozes-Hermitage (an area of highly productive fruit farming that some thought "shamelessly" traded on its neighbor's fame) has risen over the years as smaller, artisan farms started to produce wines counted as among the best of the northern Rhône. The red wine is produced from Syrah, and the whites primarily from Marsanne, and Roussanne.
The Syrah grape is used for the production of varietal wines in many countries around the world, and is also an important component of wine blends in areas, such as the Southern Rhône in France. Syrah vines can be very delicate and prone to wind damage, indicating that the choice of vineyard site is important for growing this variety. Generally, Syrah based wines have dark fruit flavors, along with notes of cacao, smoked meat, and black pepper.
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