2020 Hermitage Cuvee Emilie
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Tasting notes
I always love this cuvée from this estate, and their 2020 Hermitage Cuvée Emilie is a beauty, offering full-bodied aromas and flavors of cassis, graphite, burning embers, and classy background oak. I love its purity, it has notable freshness and balance, and a great finish. It has some up-front appeal (especially with a solid decant), but this is best forgotten for 4-5 years. It should have two decades of overall longevity.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Lawther MW, jancisrobinson.com
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
Bright purple. Intensely perfumed aromas of dark berry preserves, bacon fat, olive paste, espresso and potpourri are energized by a smoky mineral flourish. Sweet and expansive in the mouth, offering lush blackberry, cherry-vanilla, mocha and licorice flavors along with suggestions of candied violet and black pepper. The floral and mineral notes resonate emphatically on a strikingly persistent finish that's framed by youthful, firming tannins. 100% new oak.
I was unimpressed by the blended sample of the 2020 Hermitage Cuvee Emilie I tasted blind, which came across as rather sturdily built and savory in tone, showcasing earthy, plummy notes on a medium-bodied palate, backed by firm tannins (87 - 89). Yet two barrels tasted at the domaine yielded a very different impression. From Rocoules (about 20% of the blend), a floral, red-fruited expression of Hermitage, full-bodied but supple and charming (93 - 95). From Les Grandes Vignes (80% of the blend), more cassis and blackberries, accented by toast and cedar, full-bodied, rich and structured (94 - 96). I've gone with my more optimistic impression, but included a question mark to reflect the possibility that the quality of the final assemblage could vary beyond the score range given.
100% Marsanne. Citrus notes with a touch of new oak. Palate soft and supple but misses an edge of freshness. A little flat on the finish. An alcohol twist as well. (JL)