2012 Crozes-Ermitage, Le Grand Courtil, Ferraton Père & Fils, Rhône

2012 Crozes-Ermitage, Le Grand Courtil, Ferraton Père & Fils, Rhône

Product: 20128024976
 
2012 Crozes-Ermitage, Le Grand Courtil, Ferraton Père & Fils, Rhône

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Description

Ferraton’s renaissance continues apace; Chapoutier ownership has in no way dulled its distinctive voice and in Damien Brissett it has a world-class winemaker. Ferraton is careful to manage the distinction between its prestigious owned vines and those worked as a high-class négoçiant. While we are drawn, somewhat inevitably, towards the former, there is no denying the excellent quality of the entire range.

Le Grand Courtil is Ferraton’s single vineyard in Crozes-Hermitage, and one which we have followed on and off over the years. Now, quality-wise, it is most definitely on, its Mercurol vines gaining in maturity and its optimal period of élevage now settled at a generous 14 months, in barriques of which 20 percent are new. The 2012 has the Crozes imprimaturs of tapenade and bacon rind writ large, and a palate which is generous and ripe, with gentle vanilla to recall the wood ageing.

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate89-91/100
The 2012 Crozes-Ermitage Le Grand Courtil is a soft, supple and sexy effort that reveals ample black cherry, currants, licorice and loamy earth qualities in its medium-bodied, easygoing profile. Enjoy it on release and over the following 5-6 years.

Across the board, this is a superb lineup of wines that delivers high quality at all price points. Run by the team at Chapoutier, headed by Pierre-Henri Morel, the wines are made by Damien Brisset. This was a large tasting and I've simply listed the wines in the order we went through them. Within a vintage, the wines are broken up into three categories, the traditional releases, the Lieu-Dit releases, and the selections parcellaires releases. The 2011s are slightly softer and more streamlined than the 2012s. As a whole, they offer charming, supple and more medium-bodied profiles that will reward earlier drinking. Looking at the traditional releases in 2011, these wines show classic, yet approachable and delicious characters. In most cases they represent good value.

Drink 2013-2019

Jeb Dunnuck - Wine Advocate #210, Dec 2013 Read more

About this WINE

Maison Ferraton

Maison Ferraton

Maison Ferraton is a very fine Northern Rhône wine estate that was run for many years by Michel Ferraton. It is now run by Samuel Ferraton, the fourth generation of the family, who worked for a while in conjunction with Chapoutier frères. The firm has vineyard holdings in Hermitage and Crozes-Hermitage and its wine cellars are located immediately behind those of Marc Sorrel in the heart of Tain l`Hermitage.

Samuel Ferraton is very much an artisan winemaker- yet he employs many modern techniques that he picked up while working with the Chapoutiers.

Consequently, the wines are a marvellous marriage of the old and the new, displaying good structure and well-defined fruit characters, allied with very judicious and limited use of new oak. The wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered.

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Crozes-Hermitage

Crozes-Hermitage

Crôzes-Hermitage is the largest AC in the Northern Rhône, producing 10 times the volume of Hermitage and over half of the Northern Rhône’s total production.  The appellation was created in 1937 with the single commune of Crozes, which is situated northeast of the hill of Hermitage. Wines are now produced from 11 different communes.

Its vineyards surround the hill of Hermitage on equally hilly terrain where richer soils produce wines that are softer and fruitier, with a more forward style. The Syrah variety is used, but legally Marsanne and Roussanne can be added to the blend (up to 15 percent). In the north, the commune of Gervans is similar to Les Bessards in Hermitage, with granite soil producing tannic reds that need time to evolve.

While in Larnage, in the south, the heavy clay soils give the wine breadth and depth (albeit they can sometimes be flabby), the soils to the east of river on higher ground comprise stony, sandy and clay limestone, making them ideal for the production of white wines.

The best reds are produced on the plateaus of Les Chassis and Les Sept Chenin, which straddles the infamous N7 road to the south of Tain. Here the land is covered with cailloux roulés, which resemble the small pudding stones fond in Châteauneuf.

The wines can vary hugely in quality and style, and the majority of the reds tend to be fairly light. Many of the wines are made by a variation of the macération carbonique technique, bottled no later than one year after the vinification. The best producers, however, use traditional fermentation techniques.

There are small amounts of white wine made from Marsanne and Roussanne, accounting for approximately 10 percent of the appellation. The finest whites are produced from around Mercurol.

Recommended producers: Paul JabouletChapoutierColombier, Ferraton
Best vintages: 2006, 2005, 2004, 1999, 1995, 1990, 1989, 1988,

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Syrah/Shiraz

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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