Georges Lelektsoglou

Has anyone tasted stuff from Georges Lelektsoglou? There’s almost no notes in CT and surprisingly little written out there save for a bit of hype from Fass. Would love to know more about his Cote-Roties.

I met him and tried a Crozes-Hermitage Rouge from his label that I liked a lot. It was the 2015 Vieilles Vignes de Gervans. He said it was from a vineyard in the historical zone for Crozes, near the hill of Hermitage, and not from the outlying plain.

He has long run a wine retail shop in Tain, and he has many connections with growers in the area. My understanding is that he sources fruit from certain growers as a sort of micro-negoce. One of his sons runs a wine bar in Tain, and another son is also involved in the wine trade.

I bought a few of the '15 Vieilles Vignes Terres des Garrigues from Lyle a few years ago (even wrote a tasting note on one!). I liked them but I remember a little bottle variation. Nothing dramatic but some of them really did it for me and others just didn’t.

I’ve had the '14 Compagnie de l’Hermitage Côtes du Rhone Villages Visan Les Hautes Terres. It was fine for $18 bones–but not really my style. Has made me shy away from other The Greek offers.

I bought a case of his 2000 Cote du Rhone Villages. From a vineyard just outside of Chateauneuf du Pape and 100% Grenache. Last one I opened was a couple of years ago and still too young. Yes, he runs a well known shop in Tain and if he has time and thinks you know what you are talking about, will just talk for hours about Rhone wines and pour lots of samples. I bought my 1999 Jamet from him.

I rather liked his Châteauneuf-du-Pape lieu dit Pignan and I am generally not a big C9dP guy. Also tasted a Côte-Rôtie of his but it had already been open for a few days and showed quite a strong oxidized note. I’m not very surprised that there are not a lot of notes to be found as I have understood that mostly we are talking about tiny quantities, often only a barrel or two per wine. Also I suppose most are sold to locals and likely CT is not a very common tool in the area.

If you’re ever visiting Hermitage you really should stop in – he is located right on the main village square. He’s a character who knows just about everything and everybody in the region (or claims to), and I’ve often met really cool and interesting people from around the world (somms, winemakers, collectors) while he’s holding court in his shop. Usually he’s got several things open for tasting (often blind), and in my experience his wines show very well when tasted next to top names in the region.

Which is of course because the wines are often made by top names in the region and only sold under his own label :slight_smile:

I was in the shop last week and had a fun chat with Georges. He had two of his 2016 Cote Roties open on the table and offered us a taste. Didn’t take any notes and not sure how long they had been open, but we really enjoyed both of them. Unfortunately neither of them were available for purchase (nor any other of his wines) as they were sold out. They were the 2016 lieu dit la Brocarde and the 2016 lieu dit Cote Rozier. One was a single barrel production and the other was two barrels, so not much to go around. The shop was smaller than I expected, but a nice selection overall and relatively good pricing. Bought a couple of 2017 Gonon, along with a Cuchet-Beliando Cornas and a 2017 Guy Bernard Bassenon Condrieu that Georges recommended.

Definitely worth a visit if you are in Tain L’Hermitage!
GeorgesL.JPG
Cheers!

Steve

Lyle sells them direct if your looking to purchase them in the states.

Steve, you and I may have been in on the same day, I was in on Thursday and had a very similar experience.

I visited Marc Sorrel and tasted with Guillaume, but they didn’t have any wine to sell, so I stopped in to Compagnie de l’hermitage hoping to find some there. Georges had the same two Cote Roties you have pictured and also opened his Chateauneuf du Pape from the Pignan lieu dit. All three with very nice - more to the massive side and less to the elegant, but very enjoyable. I picked up a bottle of the la Brocarde, I guess he still had some at that point. Sadly, all his Marc Sorrel was spoken for…

This is how it works. Last time I was there and told him we were staying at Xavier Gerard’s place he go excited first but then then bummed on the next sentence. It was because Xavier refused to sell him his two barrels of La Landonne.

The wine bar is called Le Bateau Ivre and is highly recommend! Love place and great wine list.

Couldn’t help noticing the pricing on that Gonon. When I first time visited his shop in 2011 I bought a bottle of Gonon for 14€.

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Matt - I was in the shop and tasted the Cote Roties mid-day on Tuesday. Perhaps you were more convincing (or persistent) than I was to be able to buy a bottle. I stopped by again mid-day on Thursday to pick up two more bottles of other wines and to buy a shipper which Georges kindly provided. Then headed down to Cornas to taste with Matthieu Barret and Franck Balthazar. Just followed you on IG and I will be posting some pix from the trip in the next few days.

Mikko - yes, the Gonon (both Rouge and Oliviers Blanc) were 55 Euro. Still a bargain compared to current U.S. pricing and I don’t think the 2017 is available in the U.S. yet. Wish I could have stocked up at the old 14 Euro price!

Cheers,

Steve

Those were 2016 I assume because I think 2017 was just bottled and shipped. I bought my 2017 for 61€ so there has been some major increase on pricing since 2011! I even got 2010 vintage for 20€ and now they are closer to 100€ on secondary market.

Robert - Lyle had the 2017 Crozes Hermitage Gervans about a month ago. I was on his email list but hadn’t submitted cc info to purchase. By the time I got registered it was apparently sold out - reached out to Lyle for a 4-pack, but never heard back.

Cheers!

Steve

2017 Gonon (3).jpg

Mikko - the Gonon bottles I purchased from Georges last week (both Rouge and Blanc) were 2017 and priced at 55 Euro.


Cheers!

Steve

Steve - that’s funny… I felt like he was definitely trying to sell me a bottle. He said it had been open a couple of days, so I was probably sampling the same as you. Good stuff. I’ll look for you on IG. Hope you had a great trip. I’m going to post some notes and pictures here when I get finished on Cellartracker.

I have been to his shop twice. The last time was in April. I tried most of his wines. There all great! I have a case of most of his wines including all his Côte-Rôtie’s, CDP, Crozes-Hermitage 2014, 2015’s. His wines are some of the best in the Rhône! Buy with abandon!