2018 Crozes Hermitage Le Clos
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Tasting notes
Deep, vivid ruby. Displays spice-accented red and blue fruit scents, along with suggestions of cracked pepper and candied violet. Offers well-concentrated cherry and mulberry flavors that are sharpened by building spice and mineral flourishes. Fine-grained tannins build slowly on a long, appealingly sweet finish that echoes the blue fruit note.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
Complex nose of wild blackberry and smoke with subtle spice. A very classy and polished wine for this appellation, the tannins are already beautifully integrated, giving it a wonderfully silky feel at the long finish, in spite of the forthright meaty and stony character there. Drink or hold.
While le Clos is consistently the most impressive of the company's offerings from this appellation, the 2018 Crozes Hermitage le Clos is showing a bit too much oak at present, layering heavy notes of cedar and baking spices over blackberries and black olives. It's medium to full-bodied, plush and velvety, with a persistent and nicely textured finish, so if the oak aromas and flavors integrate over time, my rating could look stingy in another couple of years.
Mineral-accented black/blue fruit qualities on the nose, along with olive, licorice and floral notes that build in the glass. Supple and weighty on the palate, offering expansive blackberry and boysenberry flavors that become sweeter and livelier with air. The floral note comes back strong on the spice-laced finish, which shows outstanding persistence and fine-grained, harmonious tannins.