Home Wine Portfolio Our Story Locate Our Wines News and Events Contact High Praise for N. Rhone Partners in Wine & Spirits Feb 2, 2021 More great press from Wine & Spirits (Feb 2021), this report focusing on the “Year’s Best Northern Rhône” and includes three of our partners: Christelle Betton (Crozes), Dumien-Serrette (Cornas) and Pierres Seches (Saint-Joseph). Our partners here are really making some of the finest Syrah wines of their careers, which these excellent vintages and notes prove. Christelle Betton 2018 Crozes-Hermitage ‘Espiègle’ Christelle Betton’s young-vine Crozes could pass for an Hermitage in 2018: It’s firm and spicy, with a meaty, sanguine tang to the ink-dark fruit and a sense of cool stone in its reserve. It also lasts for days after opening, firm and lithe, boding well for its future should you want to cellar it. Christelle Betton 2018 Crozes-Hermitage ‘Caprice’ Betton’s old-vine cuvée … a more lilac-scented, purple-fruited red. The acidity intensifies the feeling of briskness, giving the wine a lively feel, and suggesting that it would benefit from time in the cellar. Dumien-Serrette 2017 Cornas ‘Patou’ This is wild Cornas, floral, herbal and peppery. Nicolas Serrette makes it from a parcel of 70-year-old vines south of the village of Cornas, fermenting whole bunches with ambient yeasts, crushing the berries by foot and aging it a year in neutral oak barrels, so there’s no makeup on the wine—just pure red fruit with notes of bacon and black pepper, granite and herbs, lively and brisk even as the flavors run deep. Domaines des Pierres Sèches 2018 Saint-Joseph Blanc Sylvain Gauthier founded his St-Joseph domaine in 2007 after working with Michel Chapoutier and Stéphane Robert. He farms 13.5 acres there, including two acres planted to roussanne, which provide this wine. It’s dense and rich in a calm, quiet way, with notes of beeswax, honey, lemon and roasted peaches filling out the middle, and a mineral crunch reinforcing the structure. It ends clean, with a hint of salinity that makes it palate-whetting, and suggests a match with a fennel-stuffed roast fish. Domaines des Pierres Sèches 2017 Saint-Joseph Rouge From parcels of varied soils, this wine was partially destemmed and fermented with ambient yeasts, yielding a wine with an attractively earthy, animale edge. Its ripe plum flavors are generous and plump, lifted by a hint of mint—a complete and compelling St-Joseph. ← Wine & Spirits: Diego Conterno in Piedmont A "Best Buy" Biodynamic Valpolicella: Wine & Spirits Hat Tip To Musella → Recent Posts Murgo Etna Rosso: Top Value Brand of 2021, Wine & Spirits Praise For Musto Carmelitano New Releases Valgiano’s Palistorti Rosso Is “Fun and Delicious” Great Marks For 2019 Barraud at Wine Advocate Dureuil Retrospective: The Glory of Old-Vine ‘Meix Cadot’ Summer Is The Time for Excellent Rosato Decanter’s “Standout” Chianti Classico Producers Our Portfolio French Selections Italian Selections Archives August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 September 2020 June 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 February 2019 January 2019 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 July 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 November 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 Copyright © 2021 North Berkeley Imports | Terms and Conditions