2012 Hermitage Rouge, Le Gréal, Domaine Marc Sorrel, Rhône
- Red
- Dry
- Full Bodied
- Syrah
Ready - mature
- Jeb Dunnuck
- 94/100
Product: 20128006925
Description
Our 2012 Rhône Vintage Recommendation: Favourite Hermitage
On the nose this has a gorgeous, lush, dark Syrah fruit bouquet which is both fine and rich. Just a delight in the mouth: rich, dark and velvety, plush, long and ripe with wonderful grip and balance. This is a real beauty in the making.
Chris Pollington, Private Account Manager
The ‘holy’ Gréal is an amalgam, linguistically and otherwise, of 85% limestone Méal vines and 15% clay and limestone Gréffieux vines. A small single –figure percentage is included from co-planted Marsanne and Roussanne too. Deeper of colour and with darker fruits and more assertive tannins, this is an exceptional vin de garde.
Simon Field MW, Rhône Wine Buyer
M. Sorrel’s legendary reticence was somewhat compromised during my November visit by diluvium weather, a good deal of which was penetrating his Cave in the centre of Tain l’Hermitage. Once sang froid had been restored, he was far from immodest in his praise for 2012, a small but excellent year, not unlike 2010 in his opinion, and far less astringent than 2009. Also in his opinion.
On the nose this has a gorgeous, lush, dark Syrah fruit bouquet which is both fine and rich. Just a delight in the mouth: rich, dark and velvety, plush, long and ripe with wonderful grip and balance. This is a real beauty in the making.
Chris Pollington, Private Account Manager
The ‘holy’ Gréal is an amalgam, linguistically and otherwise, of 85% limestone Méal vines and 15% clay and limestone Gréffieux vines. A small single –figure percentage is included from co-planted Marsanne and Roussanne too. Deeper of colour and with darker fruits and more assertive tannins, this is an exceptional vin de garde.
Simon Field MW, Rhône Wine Buyer
M. Sorrel’s legendary reticence was somewhat compromised during my November visit by diluvium weather, a good deal of which was penetrating his Cave in the centre of Tain l’Hermitage. Once sang froid had been restored, he was far from immodest in his praise for 2012, a small but excellent year, not unlike 2010 in his opinion, and far less astringent than 2009. Also in his opinion.
Colour Red
Sweetness Dry
Vintage 2012
Maturity Ready - mature
Grape List Syrah
Body Full Bodied
Producer Domaine Marc Sorrel
Critics reviews
Jeb Dunnuck 94/100
Coming mostly from the limestone soils of the Meal lieu-dit, the 2012 Hermitage le Greal is fermented with 100% whole clusters and aged mostly in older barrels. It's a classic, old-school Hermitage that gives up lots of smoked herbs, meat juice, gravel, pepper and assorted dark fruits. Full-bodied, fleshy and beautifully ripe, with no shortage of texture, it has solid underlying structure and will have upwards of two decades of longevity.jeb_dunnuck - 30/12/2014
About this wine
Syrah/Shiraz
A noble black grape variety grown particularly in the Northern Rhône where it produces the great red wines of Hermitage, Cote Rôtie and Cornas, and in Australia where it produces wines of startling depth and intensity. Reasonably low yields are a crucial factor for quality as is picking at optimum ripeness. Its heartland, Hermitage and Côte Rôtie, consists of 270 hectares of steeply terraced vineyards producing wines that brim with pepper, spices, tar and black treacle when young. After 5-10 years they become smooth and velvety with pronounced fruit characteristics of damsons, raspberries, blackcurrants and loganberries. It is now grown extensively in the Southern Rhône where it is blended with Grenache and Mourvèdre to produce the great red wines of Châteauneuf du Pape and Gigondas amongst others. Its spiritual home in Australia is the Barossa Valley, where there are plantings dating as far back as 1860. Australian Shiraz tends to be sweeter than its Northern Rhône counterpart and the best examples are redolent of new leather, dark chocolate, liquorice, and prunes and display a blackcurrant lusciousness. South African producers such as Eben Sadie are now producing world- class Shiraz wines that represent astonishing value for money.
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Domaine Marc Sorrel
Marc retired at the end of 2018, but his son, Guillaume, is now firmly at the helm. The 3.5-hectare domaine comprises parcels of old vines on the incredibly steep slopes of Hermitage and Crozes-Hermitage. For this talented and dedicated grower, simplicity and tradition are key. The wines made with low intervention, minimal de-stemming and no new wood in a charmingly unassuming cellar in the centre of Tain-l’Hermitage.
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Registered company 05492886. BB&R Limited, trading as Berry Bros. & Rudd, 3 St James's Street, London, SW1A 1EG. All rights reserved. You must be 18 or over to order. Calls may be recorded.
