2010 Hermitage Les Bessards
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Tasting notes
The uber-impressive 2010 Hermitage Les Bessards ranks alongside the perfect 2009. The strikingly intense powdered stone/granite minerality is apparent in this wine of great intensity, prodigious, almost skyscraper-like texture, massive body and high tannins. It is only for true connoisseurs who have a cold cellar as well as the patience to wait a minimum of a decade for it to round into drinking form. Filled with potential, it is one of the single greatest Hermitages I have ever tasted. There is no hint of its 100% new oak aging!
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
Utterly profound in every way, the 2010 Hermitage les Bessards comes from the steepest, most rugged and "badass" part of Hermitage Hill, the broken granite soils of the les Bessards lieu-dit. Inky colored, thick and massively concentrated, it has sensational notes of liquid granite (the essence of granite!), smoked meats, scorched earth, currants and chocolate on the nose. Full-bodied, frighteningly concentrated, structured and backwards, it needs another decade of cellaring but will keep for half a century.