2004 Delas Frères Hermitage Les Bessards
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Tasting notes
The 2004 Hermitage les Bessards is an elegant, layered and ready-to-go Hermitage that gives up classic smoked duck, Asian spices, soy, mineral and assorted dark fruits. It's medium to full-bodied, nicely concentrated, balanced and seamless, with lots of charm. Drinking beautifully today, enjoy bottles anytime over the coming decade.
Critic scores
Robert Parker
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
Medium ruby. Intensely mineral and tangy on the nose, with explosive, powerful scents of inky blackcurrant, ripe plum, tobacco, graphite and licorice. Quite broad and velvety but the dark fruit tones also possess terrific grip and weight. Finishes with explosive dark berry tones that gain intensity with aeration. The brooding graphite, iron and fresh tobacco tones expand through the finish. Bessards is certainly the best vineyard of Hermitage, states Grange. Meal is a hotter spot that gives more alcohol, and Greffieux is second best.
Ruby-red. Very pungent, deep aromas of tobacco- and underbrush-laced red and blackcurrant. Powerful and rich, showing impressive sweetness to its potent cassis and blackberry flavors. Really stains the palate, finishing with exceptional purity and mineral tones. Whatever tannins are here (and you know there are plenty) are completely absorbed by the sheer fruit mass.
Medium ruby. Intensely mineral and tangy on the nose, with explosive, powerful scents of inky blackcurrant, ripe plum, tobacco, graphite and licorice. Quite broad and velvety but the dark fruit tones also possess terrific grip and weight. Finishes with explosive dark berry tones that gain intensity with aeration. The brooding graphite, iron and fresh tobacco tones expand through the finish. "Bessards is certainly the best vineyard of Hermitage," states Grange. "Meal is a hotter spot that gives more alcohol, and Greffieux is second best."