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94 WA.
"One of the gems in the vintage is the 2013 Hermitage Domaine des Tourettes, which comes from both the Bessards and Grandes Vignes lieux-dits on Hermitage Hill. Completely destemmed, then vinified in stainless steel and concrete tanks, the wine is aged 18 months in 30% new French oak; it offers terrific notes of dark fruits, graphite and ample minerality in a full-bodied, layered, ripe profile. It’s more approachable than the Les Bessards, yet will still have three decades of longevity. Winemaker Jacques Granges continues to make a number of terrific wines from throughout the Rhône Valley. All of the 2013s showed nicely and possess the fresher, more focused, yet concentrated style of the vintage. The top wines have tons of potential and will reward cellaring. The 2014 reds and whites are both solid as well. I find some push too far towards the leaner end of the spectrum (especially with the whites), but there’s still plenty to love, and the wines have beautiful purity and freshness. As a whole, you can’t go wrong with this estate and the quality is incredibly high, as well as consistent across the entire range. Also, while the style here leans towards the more modern end of the paradigm, with almost complete destemming and aging in varying amounts of new oak, the percentage of new oak continues to be walked back and the wines always show textbook appellation characteristics. In addition, readers should check out the recent domaine profile and retrospective published on eRobertParker.com earlier this year." Wine Advocate #222, Dec 2015 |