Delas, Crozes-Hermitage, Domaine des Grands Chemins

Only to add to my Aug 2024 note that while lovely, this seems now fully mature and maybe even a little more advanced than I had anticipated--ie drink and enjoy.

2016 vintage

Can't really improve on either CDT's note or from the JR website. This has a lovely "darkness" and meatiness to the fruit without being clumsy. Quite a lot of weight and grip for a Crozes. Certainly good to hold 5 years. The best Crozes I've had in a long time apart from the occasional Thalabert which has been so erratic across several vintages that I'm loathe to bother.

2016 vintage

Tasted after a 60 minute decant. Dark ruby in colour with lovely aromas of cured meat, earth, cassis & cocoa powder. On the palate, medium to full bodied savoury black fruit, blackberry/cassis/black cherry, earthy, chocolate, well integrated oak, medium acidity, medium soft tannins with a long finish to pepper, leather & a chalky minerality. Very mellow & approachable now & probably won’t benefit from further cellaring. Would have been interesting to try a couple of years ago.

2016 vintage

Core of black fruit with layers of cedar, smoke, black pepper, and leather. Medium to full bodied on the palate with a long finish. Drink now or hold. WSET notes: Medium ruby. Pronounced on the nose with violet, blackberry, cedar, smoke, black pepper, meat and leather. Developing. Pronounced and dry on the palate. Medium plus body, high alcohol, high tannins, high acidity, long finish. Can drink now but has potential for aging.

2016 vintage

Softer than previous bottle. Some savoury notes too, more harmonious than before. More black than red fruit. Good on day 2 as well. Think this is probably on a plateau now.

2016 vintage

Gamey Syrah on the nose. Deep crimson. Tannins seem to have softened out quite a bit, but acidity quite noticeable now. Syrah fruit more evident than last bottle but in quite an aggressive way - fine with steak but less so on its own. Difficult to tell where this one is going. It's certainly changed in character quite a bit from the first bottle of the case. A little softening would do no harm.

2016 vintage

On the nose, a lot of dark fruit: blackberry, dark cherries. On the palate, not a lot of fruit, very dry, pronounced acidity and a strong tannic backbone. I found the midpalate hollow, because the fruit could not stand up to the acidity and the strong tannins. During drinking, I decided to decant, but that did not do much. Maybe just needs more time.

2016 vintage

With sirloin steak, wedges and french beans. Good match, definitely needs food. Dark deep purplish red, more acidity evident than last bottle. Served cellar cool. More evidence of tannin than before strangely, maybe as a little cold, but it was good at that temperature before. Fruit took a bit of time to show and not as forward as before. Still evolving. Alcohol quite evident too. Good, but preferred previous bottle. Still have 3 left will leave for another year maybe.

2016 vintage

Started by Coravin with steak frites and remains an excellent match; quite a big wine, lots of berry fruit and tannins not that evident. Nice served just about cellar cool. Finished a week or so later with shepherds pie. This had mellowed a bit…and first impression was sweet fruit, almost Antipodean! Tannins almost gone. Quite a contrast to a couple of other Crozes recently drunk. Good match, but I hope that the next bottle retains a bit more of the …

2016 vintage

Med alcohol, med(+) tannin, med body, Fruit forward on the nose of bramble, blackberry, eucalyptus. Nice flavors of dark cherry, bramble, white pepper, loam. Paired well with Jerk seasoned pork loin. Decanted 30 minutes. Still drinking young, has potential for aging.

2016 vintage

First of six. Dense, purple/crimson. Game, smoke, Syrah nose. Decanted 2 hours. Drunk with steak as it should be. Still quite backward, but some dark fruit came through - gutsy, young and will develop. No rush. Finished on second night with Sicilian chicken, had smoothed a bit and stood up well to the robust herbs and spices of this.

2016 vintage

Everything is there, but this wine is still quite young. 91 for now, but this has all the ingredients to add 1-2 points. Quite drinkable at this point, but hard to point out as a typical syrah.

2016 vintage

This deep ruby Syrah was Vinturi-decanted and serially sampled over the ensuing 2-3 hours. Within 30 minutes in decanter, it reveals an attractive bouquet of dark bramble fruits, Luxardo cherries, licorice, black olive tapenade and loamy earth. Full-bodied, freshly acidic and with medium-weight, sweet tannins, it delivers flavors in line with the nose and stays solid on the middle palate. The wine's oak and alcohol (listed as 13.5%) are well-woven and the finish is lengthy. This is a delicious red …

2016 vintage

Very good wine. Bold and rich wine, with clear oak influence, but well integrated and balanced. Concentrated style and with good length. Deep ruby coloured with garnet rims Medium+ aroma intensity Primary: blackberry, black cherry, blueberry, green bell pepper, liquorice wood, bay leaf, black tea Secondary: vanilla, cedar, smoke, milk chocolate Tertiary: horse stable, cigar leaves, red meat Dry wine, medium+ acidity, medium+ and supple tannins, full body, medium+ flavour intensity Long finish 13,5% - WSET4

2016 vintage

Quite similar to the 2015, maybe slightly less intense but more approachable. Very inviting and smooth tannins, but still enough bite to handle a good bbq.

2016 vintage

Color: Solid dark ruby. Impressive. Nose: Beautiful, intense, complex, expressive syrah-driven nose of purple plum, blackberry, black raspberry, violet, with a touch of anise, northern Rhône spices, and just a touch of smoke. No hickory. Not over the top. Palate: Similar flavors to nose. Blackberry, plum, kiss of anise and Rhône spice. Full-bodied, excellent concentration, ripe tannins. Superb balance. Delicious! A very, very good vintage in the northern Rhône. A great vintage of Delas Grands Chemin! 92/93 pts. Drink: 2020 …

2016 vintage

Syrahs/Shirazes (2 ea-FR, CA’s Central Coast, & AU) (Vintage Wines Ltd., San Diego, CA) : “100% Syrah from Delas-owned vyrd plots on benches known as the ‘Chassis’, formed at the junction between the rivers Isère & Rhône. Grapes are hand-picked, plot by plot, @ max levels of ripeness. Winemaking is traditional, with fermentation in open concrete tanks, following a cold-soaking. Daily cap-punching & pumping over provide extraction. The maceration phase lasts 10-12 days. Aged for 14 mos, partly in tanks …

2016 vintage

Just okay.

2016 vintage

A week in the Northern Rhone; 12/7/2018-12/15/2018 (Lyon, Vienne, Ampuis, Chavanay, Hermitage, Cornas, St. Joseph, Condrieu & Paris) : Tasted at the Domaine. The first of the reds in the line-up this is very fresh with dark savory fruit supported by lively acidity. Seems like this is built in a style for earlier accessibility. Grown on flat lands in alluvial soil.

2016 vintage

Drank at brasserie vagenende in Paris. Ripe and concentrated, oaky - delicious but tasted more like California than French.

2016 vintage

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Delas, Crozes-Hermitage, Domaine des Grands Chemins

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