2015 Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage la Guiraude
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Tasting notes
Lurid ruby. Sexy, intensely perfumed aromas of dark fruit preserves, smoky minerals, exotic spices and olive paste. Silky and sweet on the palate, offering concentrated blackberry, bitter cherry and spicecake flavors enlivened by a jolt of smoky minerality. Shows excellent clarity and spicy lift on the seamless, strikingly persistent finish, which leaves a cherry liqueur note behind.
Critic scores
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
Joe Czerwinski, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The smaller production cuvée is the 2015 Crozes-Hermitage La Guiraude, which is richer and more powerful, as well as more opulent. Black raspberries, plums, tons of pepper and crushed rock-like minerality give way to a rich, full-bodied, concentrated Crozes-Hermitage that has a broad, expansive texture and ripe, yet present tannin. Brought up all in used barrels, it’s a blockbuster, plain and simple. Drink it anytime over the coming 10-15 years. In addition to the Alain Graillot wines, Maxime Graillot also makes the wines of Equis and Domaine des Lises. The Alain Graillot releases are unquestionably the most traditional in style. These are old-school, classic wines well worth your time and money.
La Guiraude is simply a barrel selection of Graillot's Crozes Hermitage. The 2015 Crozes Hermitage la Guiraude is darker and meatier than the regular cuvée, offering notes of black cherries, soy sauce and roasted meat. It's full-bodied and dense, packed with flavor and richness, and long and velvety on the finish.
Barrel selection from the Graillot cuvée. Inky and dark-hearted. Peppery intensity with just a touch of charry reduction just now. Powerful and concentrated but – for now – less drinkable than the standard Croze-Hermitage.(JH)