Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2021
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The Land
Most people picture the Northern Rhone as terraced granite cliffs falling into the river. Alain Graillot built his reputation on the opposite: a flat gravel plain. His vines sit in Les Chassis, the stony plateau south of Tain-l'Hermitage around Pont-de-l'Isere and La Roche-de-Glun, roughly 20 hectares of galets roules and alluvial gravel dumped there by the Rhone and the Isere, over a sandy, siliceous subsoil. Those rounded stones drain hard and hold the day's heat into the night, which is why Syrah ripens here without the hillside exposure. The core plantings date to 1973 and 1978, with a cooler, clay-heavier hillside parcel at Larnage added in 2003. The mistral scours the plateau and keeps rot pressure down. This is the wine that proved Crozes-Hermitage could be taken seriously.
The Wine
100% Syrah, fermented whole cluster with native yeasts in concrete vats, roughly three weeks on the skins at a maximum of 32C with twice-daily pump-overs, then about a year in used barrels with only 5 to 10% new oak. Graillot never destemmed and never chased new wood, and the whole bunches give the wine its lifted, peppery top end rather than sweetness. The 2021 season was brutal. Frost hit on April 7 and 8, a wet spring brought coulure and mildew, early summer hail interfered with flowering, and a cool, showery August pushed picking about two weeks later than 2020. Alcohols across the Northern Rhone fell a full percentage point and yields came in below the five-year average. The result is a lean, savory, cooler-framed Crozes: cracked black pepper, violet, blackberry, black olive and bay, a sappy attack, fine-grained tannin and an iron, briny finish.
The People
Alain Graillot came to wine at 40, in 1985, after a career selling agricultural chemicals, and he leaned on Burgundians rather than Rhone neighbors for advice, notably Jacques Seysses of Domaine Dujac and Jean-Pierre de Smet. That Burgundy influence explains the whole-bunch fermentations and the refusal of new oak. His son Maxime, who trained at Dujac, has run the cellar since the 2008 vintage and makes his own Equis wines in the same building, with his brother Antoine also part of the domaine. The vineyards are farmed organically. Alain died in March 2022 at 77, which makes 2021 one of the last vintages he saw through from vine to bottle.
Food Pairing
Peppery Syrah from Crozes-Hermitage wants fat and char. Grill merguez or lamb chops over hardwood and let the smoke meet the black olive side of the wine. A steak frites with a heavy crust of crushed black pepper is the obvious call, and the right one. Braised duck legs with green olives and orange zest pick up the savory, briny finish, while a pot of green lentils simmered with garlic sausage and thyme works against the wine's fine tannin without overpowering it. At this price, it belongs in the Tuesday rotation, not the cellar.
We ship wine to most states with a $100 minimum order for shipping. We don't ship spirits nor beer.
Weather shipping advisory: Orders placed during times of extreme heat or extreme cold will be held for no charge until more favorable weather returns.
Syrah is a dark-skinned grape of French origin, specifically from the Northern RhĂ´ne Valley, where it produces some of the world's most powerful and complex wines. Known as Shiraz in Australia, Syrah is capable of displaying a wide range of aromas and flavors. Cool climate Syrahs tend to express floral notes like violets, along with savory elements like olives, while those grown in warmer climates like Australia are more likely to show black pepper and dark fruit notes such as plum. The grape's versatility allows it to adapt to various climates and soil types, but it maintains its unique characteristics no matter where it is planted.
