Les Bessards Hermitage Syrah

To be honest I would not have opened this but my friend wanted to share. Who am I to argue. Every preconceived notion I had was wrong. Too young and not approachable , wrong! Alcohol is going to be intrusive because of the vintage, wrong . Wood is going to dominate, wrong. A beautiful open nose flows into a well rounded and smooth ball of fruit nirvana. Goes without saying five years into the future this will be even better.

I love this wine. Surprisingly approachable for its age.

Delas Hermitage Les Bessards 2009

... And the 2009 next to the 2015. Thank you Peter for opening this for comparison. The 2015 was much hotter vintage with charred coal characteristics on the nose. This 2009 is very nice. Delicate, granite like, some sweetness.

Très beau nez floral, épicé. Une bouche pleine et puissante, assez riche, belle texture, une finale un peu chaude par contre. Très bien. 91

Blind tasting lunch 2009 theme. Very nice nose, flowery and spicy, powerful and full palate, rich with a nice texture of tannins, only caveat is the slightly warm finish, still very nice.

Massively structured & beautifully balanced that can be enjoyed now showing an inky, graphite nose with notes of dark fruits, meat, smoke, licorice & floral tones.

96+

This RP 100 was way too young but showed good depth & balance with its massive, inky structure, dark fruits, meat, blood, black olive, pepper and spices. Needs a min of another 5 years to shed some of its tannins.

Lovely syrah spice went well with the camel and kangaroo we had. Still a bit young

Infanticide. This bottle is lovely, but still very tight. The fruit is restrained and the minerality is ample. Perfectly balanced, but I'm thinking in 5-10 more years this bottle will really knock your socks off.