DOMAINE du COLOMBIER CROZES-HERMITAGE 2021

Colombier Croze-Hermitage is a big wine with plenty of concentrated black fruit character and good oak structure bound together with fine acidity. Seriously structured, intense and very long. 100% Syrah, from the cooler Northern Rhône, this is a great example of what this famous region has to offer.

An established name in Hermitage and Crozes-Hermitage, the Viale family planted their first vines at the foot of the Hermitage hill in 1929.

Third generation Florent, owns over 13 hectares of vines liberally scattered on some of the best sites over the communes of Mercurol and Tain, including 1.5 hectares of vineyards in the renowned Beaumes vineyard on the famous Hermitage hill. Before 1992 the entire production was sold to local negociants (Guigal in particular) and so only recently have the Viales been estate bottling and marketing their own wines.

The average age vines in the holding in Beaumes is over 50 years and this is reflected in the wine which is renowned for their purity and harmony. The Syrah is fermented in a cement, stainless steel and wood, and then matured over eight months in cement and 600 ltr demi-muids.

Florent is keen on emphasising the primacy of ripe fruit above all else, but his wines are not without structure and ageing potential. Colombier’s Crozes Hermitage is now consistently one of the finest in the appellation.