So years ago (2000 actually), we attended the first InterRhone exposition in the Rhone Valley, an event dedicated to presenting Rhone wines in groups during presentations within the various appellations.\u00a0 One of the most memorable days was the \u2018show\u2019 in Hermitage, with a large number of who\u2019s who producers.\u00a0 It was in a bank building and the various growers were stationed behind teller\u2019s windows presenting their wares.<\/p>\n
The majority of the wines were from the outstanding 1999 vintage, there were three producers whose wines stood out even among the power lineup that was presenting that day.\u00a0 One of the three was a house we had read about but had never yet seen in our part of the world, nor had the opportunity to taste.\u00a0 That was Domaine Sorrel.\u00a0 That event made a lasting impression and we spent the next few years trying to find a viable source for Sorrel’s wines.\u00a0 We got a couple of scraps in the European market but were generally unsuccessful in our effort to solidify a steady source.<\/p>\n
About a decade later, the Sorrel wines showed up at a local importer and it was a pretty happy day for us when we snagged the tail end of Sorrel\u2019s 2010 Hermitage.\u00a0 A\u00a0 beautiful wine that encapsulated Sorrel\u2019s distinctive style to a tee,\u00a0 it showed depth and presence but also an uncommon elegance.\u00a0 This wasn\u2019t the biggest or jammiest example of the genre.\u00a0 But it did not lack for stuffing and was impressive for its balance and polish.<\/p>\n
Fast forward to today and the 2015 vintage.\u00a0 We had never seen Sorrel\u2019s Crozes Hermitage before but the house style was in full array.\u00a0 The\u00a0Marc Sorrel Crozes Hermitage 2015 <\/strong><\/a>showed\u00a0plenty of dark fruits with insistent undercurrents of minerality, but the wine also had a harmony and presence that set it apart from the rank and file from this ripe, weighty but sometimes California-like vintage. Crozes can be a little curious from the standpoint of quality because the appellation extends from the hillside to flatter areas near the highway.\u00a0 As we say here, hillside Crozes is better than \u2018freeway\u2019 Crozes.\u00a0 In the hands of someone like Sorrel, the equation only gets better.<\/p>\n The reviews indirectly speak of the value in that the score was very close to the Hermitage but the Crozes costs about half as much.\u00a0 Josh Reynolds of Vinous saw it this way, \u201cDeep vivid ruby. Ripe blackberry and cherry scents are energized by cracked pepper and smoky mineral accents. Fleshy and open-knit, offering sweet dark berry and violet pastille flavors and a touch of salty olive paste. The peppery note recurs on a long, blue-fruit-inflected finish that’s given structure by mounting tannins…91 points.\u201d\u00a0 The wine definitely has an upscale feel to it, but at a touch over $30 its pretty wallet-friendly for what it delivers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So years ago (2000 actually), we attended the first InterRhone exposition in the Rhone Valley, an event dedicated to presenting Rhone wines in groups during presentations within the various appellations.\u00a0 One of the most memorable days was the \u2018show\u2019 in Hermitage, with a large number of who\u2019s who producers.\u00a0 It was in a bank building … Continue reading “‘Little’ Wine from a Top Dog, Northern Rhone Style”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[27],"tags":[161,168,169,170,301],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2650"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2652,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2650\/revisions\/2652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winex.com\/stockreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}