| Country: | France |
| Region: | Loire |
| Winery: | Ecu (Guy Bossard) |
| Grape Type: | Melon de Bourgogne |
| Vintage: | 2019 |
| Bottle Size: | 750 ml |
Delas Freres Cote Rotie La Landonne Rouge is made from 100 percent Syrah.
This very ancient region dates back to the Roman Era and is located on the right bank of the Rhône. It is said that during the Middle Ages, “The Seigneur de Maugiron” gave a hillside to each of his two daughters - one was brunette and the other fair - thus, were born the names of “Côte Brune” and “Côte Blonde.” Wines from the Côte Blonde tend to be more delicate and lighter in character than the fuller wines of the Côte Brune. Together, they make a wine of style and substance. This cuvée is a vineyard plot selection. The grapes come exclusively from a plot within the named slope of “La Landonne.”
This cuvée‘s first vintage was 1997. The wine is only made in the very best years. Its highly limited production never exceeds 2,500 bottles per year.
The steep, terraced hillsides along the river produce wines that are among the "biggest" reds of France. The Delas Côte-Rôtie is primarily Syrah with an addition of up to 10 to 20% of Viognier grapes in the crop. The soils of the northern part of the Côte Brune vineyard consists of extremely steep, terraced slopes of ferruginous mica schists which are covered with schist sand (arzel). The Côte Blonde has a varied geology with gneiss and granite predominating at the most southern side of the appellation. The area has dry, hot summers with regular rainfalls during other seasons. The grapes for the “La Landonne” cuvée are picked by hand at maximum maturity. Fermentation takes place in traditional open-topped concrete tanks, following three days of pre-fermentation cold maceration. Before fermentation, the maceration process continues under controlled temperatures of 82°F to 86°F. Daily cap pushing down and pumping over are carried out for about 10 days with total vatting time of up to 20 days. The wine is aged for 14 to 16 months in new or one year old oak casks. The barrels are topped up regularly.
Food Pairing: This wine pairs wonderfully with fine meats, roasted beef, water games, truffles and spicy stews. The bottle should be opened 1 to 3 hours before drinking. This wine needs at least 3 years cellaring before it can open up its complexity. In such case it is strongly recommended to decant before serving.
Tasting Notes: The wine‘s deep color is underscored by plummy hues. A complex nose shows deep, fruity aromas with hints of licorice and roasted coffee. Endowed with a dense and silky tannic structure, this is a full, fleshy wine that provides an ample and generous palate. Its lasting finish speaks of considerable ageing potential.
Reviews:
This is dark and still a bit reticent, with a cast iron cloak around the core of dark currant, plum and blackberry paste flavors, showing lots of sweet bay leaf, anise and singed apple wood notes in the background. There's serious grip through the finish. For the cellar.
-Wine Spectator 96 Points
Very open, spicy and fresh on the nose, you could almost open this now. Struck flint notes assist in teasing out notes of leaf tea, tobacco, rosemary and rose. Very full-bodied, generous but powerful on the palate, tense and mineral. Mouthcoating ripe, sweet tannin and robust amounts of sweet baking spices, along with more tobacco and black fruit on the palate. Has depth, length, power and impressive balance despite the high alcohol. Drink from now into 2022, or from 2031 to 2040. Lieu-dit La Landonne, from the Brune side (mica schist bedrock). Matured in new and one-year-old barrels for 14 months.
-Decanter 96 Points
The 2019 Côte Rôtie La Landonne comes from one of the greatest sites for Syrah in the world, the La Landonne lieu-dit located close to the center of the appellation, on the Côte Brune side. It reveals a deeper purple hue (it's slightly more opaque than the Seigneur de Maugiron) and offers a brilliant nose of ripe cassis, black raspberries, scorched earth, smoked herbs, and seared meat. Full-bodied and powerful on the palate, this is a deep, spicy, concentrated Côte Rôtie with a plush, layered mouthfeel, sweet tannins, beautiful balance, and a great, great finish. This puppy brings the fruit, opulence, and texture of the vintage yet still has a classic Côte Rôtie character.
-Jeb Dunnuck 96 Points
Fresh aromatic layers of mint sit atop crushed red cherries and wild strawberries, with light clove and thyme on the nose. The palate is rich and enticing with black cherries, plums, rhubarb, pomegranate seeds, black olives and freshly picked rosemary leaves. Tremendous texture, structure, and refreshing acidity carry this wine to a robust finish of orange zest and black tea leaves. Maisons Marques & Domaines USA.
- Wine Enthusiast 96 Points
This very ancient region dates back to the Roman Era and is located on the right bank of the Rhône. It is said that during the Middle Ages, “The Seigneur de Maugiron” gave a hillside to each of his two daughters - one was brunette and the other fair - thus, were born the names of “Côte Brune” and “Côte Blonde.” Wines from the Côte Blonde tend to be more delicate and lighter in character than the fuller wines of the Côte Brune. Together, they make a wine of style and substance. This cuvée is a vineyard plot selection. The grapes come exclusively from a plot within the named slope of “La Landonne.”
This cuvée‘s first vintage was 1997. The wine is only made in the very best years. Its highly limited production never exceeds 2,500 bottles per year.
The steep, terraced hillsides along the river produce wines that are among the "biggest" reds of France. The Delas Côte-Rôtie is primarily Syrah with an addition of up to 10 to 20% of Viognier grapes in the crop. The soils of the northern part of the Côte Brune vineyard consists of extremely steep, terraced slopes of ferruginous mica schists which are covered with schist sand (arzel). The Côte Blonde has a varied geology with gneiss and granite predominating at the most southern side of the appellation. The area has dry, hot summers with regular rainfalls during other seasons. The grapes for the “La Landonne” cuvée are picked by hand at maximum maturity. Fermentation takes place in traditional open-topped concrete tanks, following three days of pre-fermentation cold maceration. Before fermentation, the maceration process continues under controlled temperatures of 82°F to 86°F. Daily cap pushing down and pumping over are carried out for about 10 days with total vatting time of up to 20 days. The wine is aged for 14 to 16 months in new or one year old oak casks. The barrels are topped up regularly.
Tasting Notes
The wine‘s deep color is underscored by plummy hues. A complex nose shows deep, fruity aromas with hints of licorice and roasted coffee. Endowed with a dense and silky tannic structure, this is a full, fleshy wine that provides an ample and generous palate. Its lasting finish speaks of considerable ageing potential.
Food Pairing
This wine pairs wonderfully with fine meats, roasted beef, water games, truffles and spicy stews. The bottle should be opened 1 to 3 hours before drinking. This wine needs at least 3 years cellaring before it can open up its complexity. In such case it is strongly recommended to decant before serving.
All older vintage wines have been purchased from a single collectors cellar. Pictures can be requested before shipment.
Delas Hermitage Domaine des Tourettes is made from Syrah.
Sourced from Delas' holdings on the Hermitage hill, this 2021 has a deep, brilliant red hue. The nose is powerful and complex, expressing blackberries, spices and leather. On the palate the wine is firm but silky, with the tightly-knit tannic structure that is the hallmark of wines with a long future.
Pair this wine with rare or medium-cooked game, marinated meats and spicy stews. We recommend opening this bottle between one and three hours before drinking.
Reviews:
Some weight of fruit here underneath the measured clove oak. Smooth, ripe, with well-balanced acidity, this has a good sense of balance and elegance. Fresh, with plentiful cinnamon spice and forest berry fruit that's just-ripe, neither over nor under. A fairly compact, early-drinking Hermitage, not a powerful one, but one that has some natural class.
-Decanter 93 Points
Very complex nose with notes of candied orange, cocoa powder and spice. Remarkably harmonious for the vintage with almost silky tannins, then comes an intense flinty character that gives the slightly sweet finish so much excitement. Matured entirely in oak barrels with about one quarter new, but only for 12 months.
-James Suckling 93 Points
Delas Hermitage Les Grandes Vignes Ligne de Crete is made from Syrah.
The nose discloses aromas of spice and leather intertwined with deep berry aromas (blackberry, redcurrant) and heady floral notes, liquorice and incense. Its richness, complexity and elegance are by no means a contradiction. The finest granite soils of the Hermitage hillside are to thank for this wine's incredible minerality and finesse. The wine is rich and dense on entry to the palate, where it shows an elegant, broad and flavorsome character. The ripe, smooth and well-integrated tannins contribute to the wine's powerful yet harmonious structure. The palate reveals the same aromas as those found on the nose with nuances of blueberry, raspberry, violet and bitter chocolate. Ligne de Crête is characterized by its exceptional structure, harmony and balance.
This remarkably smooth and elegant wine makes the perfect partner for a pigeon pie, beef tartare ravioli or a roast fillet of deviled duckling with cranberries. It also makes an excellent choice for woodcock, hare "à la Royale" or even a roast rack of lamb in a herb crust.
Review:
Whiffs of espresso, ore and charred meat mingle into thunderous flavors of crème de cassis and roasted plums in this wine. A single-site expression of Les Grandes Vignes from a ripe yet fresh vintage, it's a showstopping Syrah marked with a creamy texture and ripe tannins. Hermitage is not known for youthful pleasures but this rare bottling embraces the hedonism of adolescence along with its potential to gain power and complexity far beyond 2050. Anna Lee C. Iijima
-Wine Enthusiast 97 Points
Inky ruby color. Expansive, smoke- and mineral-accented black and blue fruits, licorice, smoky bacon, mocha, violet and licorice on the highly perfumed nose. Appealingly sweet, mineral-accented cassis, boysenberry, fruitcake, floral pastille and vanilla flavors show superb depth and become spicier with aeration. Shows superb detail and mineral lift on the youthfully tannic, extremely persistent and incisive finish, which features resonating floral and exotic spice notes.
-Vinous 97 Points
Domaine Jean-Claude et Nicholas Fayolle Hermitage Les Dionneres Blanc is made from 100% Marsanne.
Fayolle Hermitage Blanc Les Dionnieres boasts a superb golden yellow color and extraordinary smoothness and creamy, honeyed aromas of hazelnut, peach and apricot developping into scents of iris, narcissus and lime blossom. Pure and crisp, a solid texture and a clean finish.
Delicious with poultry, veal, seafood, shellfish, veal and most cheeses.
SALE!
Guy Bossard Domaine de l'Ecu Muscadet Granite is made from 100% Melon de Bourgogne sourced from a 3 hectare vineyard.
ub-soil: granite
Yield: 40-45 hl/ha
Soil ploughing and soil scraping. Canopy management.
PRUNING: Simple Guyot.
Orientation of the slopes is SOUTH WEST. Stony soil. Sub-sol: Two-Mica Granite.
Production: 555 cases
It is the color of white gold. An elegant nose with pronounced notes of mineral, flint, silex, and notes of citrus fruits and oyster shells. The attack is sharp and straight, the mouth crystalline imparting a great purety, fresh with the ambiance of the sea; mouth slim, fleshy and complex, very salty notes and notes of chalk and citrus fruits. A wine equipped with a long life with a persistant ambiance of the sea. A wine essentially to keep....
Organically farmed since 1975. Biodynamic – Demeter certified since 1998. 100 % hand-picked grapes Reception of the grape harvest by gravity, no use of pumps. Pneumatic gentle press No racking of the must Fermentation: 100 % natural yeast • Temperature control: 15 °- 17 °. Aged "ON THE LEES" in underground vats
A perfect match to the following dishes:
Tartare of langoustines, zest of lime and mandarin.
Sushi and sashimi of white fish, sea bass and sea bream...
Shellfish, refined oysters, crayfish.
Carpaccio of ScallopS with kaffir lime zest.
Turbot, John Dory, Monkfish in sauce, Skate with capers, beurre noisette.
Eels "à la Provençale". Wild Sea Bass with an oyster sauce and seaweed butter.
Grilled Rabbit Leg with rosemary, tian of courgettes
Cheeses: Livarot, Epoisses, Curé Nantais
Review:
"Named after the rock upon which the vineyard sits, this wine is textured, very mineral and concentrated. Ripe apple flavors are part of this structure and tangy character. A little young it will be better from late 2019. - ROGER VOSS”
- Wine Enthusiast (October 2019), 92 pts, Editors' Choice
The Domaine de l'Ecu Guy Bossard Estate
The domaine is located in the hamlet of Le Landreau in Sevre et Maine, Muscadet's best region of production. The family has been producing wine there for 5 generations, but current owner Guy Bossard defies the prevailing view that organic producers can't make great wine. The estate became organic in 1975, and biodynamic in 1986. Guy Bossard makes his own compost using algae, forest brush and basalt. He produces 3 different cuvees, each masterfully crafted to highlight the expression of the specific soil types.
The Hermine d'Or designation is given to specially selected Cuvees of Muscadet, (tasted blind) that score highly. Hermine d'Or wines are picked for:
1. Typicity - Trueness to type (no oak here).
2. Ageability - The ability to improve in the bottle.
3. Minerality - Classic feature of wines of this region.
This insignia, Hermine d'Or, is as near a guarantee of quality as can be found in the region.
Matt Kramer, the Wine Spectator - My Wines of the Year -
"Ah, my beloved Muscadet always pops up on this list, as I like to buy'em and age'em for upward of a decade. Guy Bossard, the owner-winemaker of Domaine de l'Ecu, is obsessed with Muscadet. His vines and winemaking are fully biodynamic. If Burgundy's Domaine Leroy made Muscadet, it would be Domaine de l'Ecu. In the classic 2002 vintage, Bossard offered multiple bottlings based on soil types. His Expression de Granit is all about intense minerality; Expression d'Orthogneiss is spicier, richer and denser. Both need 10 years of age. The prices are absurdly low."
"The gifted, highly regarded Guy Bossard produces serious Muscadets, built to age; fully biodynamic since 1986." - Anthony Dias Blue's pocket guide to wine 2006
The Domaine de l'Ecu Guy Bossard Vineyard
Guy Bossard farms 17 hectares (42 acres) entirely using biodynamic methods. The average age of the vines is 45 years.
The wines are fermented "sur lie", on the yeast, to prevent oxidation and impart full flavor and a slight spritz to the finished product.
Far Niente Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is made from 88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6.5% Merlot, 2.5% Malbec, 2.5% Petit Verdot, 0.5% Cabernet Franc.
Beautiful aromas of dark plum, red cherry, licorice and warm baking spices open onto a plush and silky palate layered with plum, spiced cherry and cassis. A classic Napa Valley Cabernet, fine-grained tannins and lively acidity support the wine throughout, while the finish is refined and polished.
Review:
Very precisely polished and focused wine with aromas of black cherries, blue berries and violets followed by green bell pepper, black ink and gravel. Underlying umami notes, too. Full-bodied, firm yet finely grained juicy tannins with bright acidity that balances out the palate. Beautifully integrated toasty notes and baking spices on the mid-palate and in the finish. Flourishing and artful wine that will age gracefully.
-James Suckling 96 Points
Molly Dooker Carnival of Love is made from 100% Shiraz.
The Wine
Carnival of Love is Mollydooker's flagship McLaren Vale Shiraz — a bold, richly layered red that has become one of Australia's most sought-after Shiraz bottlings. Grown on the Gateway vineyard and matured in 100% new American oak, it pours a deep, saturated purple and opens with lifted aromas of raspberry, black cherry and a whisper of aniseed spice. The palate is generous and plush, brimming with dark and red fruit, mocha, coconut and plum, all framed by chocolate, sweet spice and the signature Mollydooker fruit weight that carries the wine without ever feeling heavy. Powerful yet remarkably fresh, it drinks beautifully now and will reward another decade in the cellar.
Serving Tip
Give it the famous "Mollydooker Shake": pour off a small splash, re-cap the bottle and gently tip it a few times to release the winemaking nitrogen. The wine opens up richer, softer and more expressive in the glass.
Winery Info
Mollydooker was founded in 2005 by husband-and-wife winemakers Sparky and Sarah Marquis in McLaren Vale, South Australia. "Mollydooker" is Australian slang for a left-hander — both Sparky and Sarah are left-handed — and that playful, against-the-grain spirit runs through everything they make. The Marquises built their name on a fruit-first philosophy they call Marquis Fruit Weight™: farming for intensely concentrated, perfectly ripe grapes and letting that fruit, rather than heavy oak or extraction, define the wine. From a standing start the winery rocketed to international fame and a devoted worldwide following, and today ranks among the most recognized names in Australian wine. Carnival of Love sits at the top of the Mollydooker range as the flagship expression of everything McLaren Vale Shiraz can be.
Review:
Notes of star anise, red licorice and sarsaparilla add a wonderfully spicy thread that complements the core of cherry, including dried and kirschlike flavors. The dense tannins show a firming side that’s reminiscent of strong, malty Assam black tea and unsweetened chocolate.
Wine Spectator 93 Points