Jasmin makes a rather Burgundian Côte-Rôtie … not the sort of style that wows critics, which has helped keep its prices reasonable.
Was your “Syrah-heavy Côtes du Rhône” a Jamet by any chance? If not (i.e., if you haven’t ruled that out), I would suggest trying it if you can source a bottle at a reasonable price (should be less than €30 / $40). It’s got ample fruit but plenty of savory flavors and that weightlessness (or perhaps just equilibrium) that to me is a hallmark of great winemaking. (I much prefer it and their even cheaper IGP Collines Rhodaniennes Syrah to their Fructus Voluptus Côte-Rôtie BTW.)
There’s only been one reference I think to Levet Côte–Rôtie so far in this thread. Not necessarily the lightest, but certainly plenty savory (and miles from a dark and over-extracted fruit bomb).
If you like CA North Coast wines, you may want to check out the Sierra Foothills for Syrah. I recently had a Terre Rouge Ascent that was incredible. Last year, I did a tour through the Shenandoah Valley and found that many of the wineries were producing world class Syrah in a more savory style with average pricing $30-75, totally changed my impression on the possibilities of Rhone wines in CA.
Sorry if someone already recommended this, but I recently had a Levet Cote-Rotie (one of his entry-level bottlings, which should be under $75) and it was savory as hell. All meat and olives, but not brooding or heavy.
There are now more than a handful of producers in the Northern Rhone who make IGP (previously Vin de Pays) Syrah. Collines Rhodaniennes is the mouthful designation. Some producers are famous for bigger wines from bigger Appellations. Some are lesser known. These tend to be light, deft, piquant. They are all relatively inexpensive, so you can see if they fit without investing much money. You should be able to find at least a handful of them near home.
Here are some names:
Villard
Faury
Bonnefond
Garon
Cuilleron
Jamet
Vernay
Rostaing
I also import one, please e-mail or PM me if interested.
Domestically, I second the Piedrasassi (Sta. Rita Hills/Santa Maria Valley) recommendation from above. $45-$50 a bottle and usually at about 13% ABV. Very savory characteristics well integrated with quality fruit (but never “jammy”). Well balanced.
That’s strange, I had a 2015 Equis a while ago, and if anything, found it on the thin side - and frankly would never repurchase. 2015 was generally a big plump year too.
The problem with a lot of cool climate CA sites (this is true for PN, too) is they don’t drop in temperature later in the season, so there’s tons of late picked, cool climate stuff. When they’re doing that, the cool climate part is pretty much useless trivia. Basically, it’s hard to tell by location, with a few exceptions. Producer, producer, producer. There are plenty of good ones, some mentioned already. More in a recent thread. Halcon, Edmunds St. John, Sandler, Waxwing, Pax, Cabot and many more.
+2. The '18 is really something, it’s an umami bomb, though not short on purity of fruit. Concentrated, yet lithely textured, structured, yet open, feral, but not rustic. Somehow it hasn’t sold out–Melville has otherwise kept brisk pace on selling through its new releases despite the pandemic. Perhaps too savory for the masses?
I’ve had some Equise / Domaine des Lises wines and while they are slightly fruitier and more accessible than Alain Graillot wines, they are anything but early-drinking fruit bombs. Stylistically very similar to each other, definitely nothing strikingly different. Even the 2009 Crozes-Hermitage was not particularly ripe, soft or flabby despite the warm vintage.
Not going to argue, because of 2018. I haven’t had that vintage, but based on some other producers’ wines from that vintage, I wouldn’t be surprised if this one ended up in that style as well.
However, my point was that your claim how Maxime Graillot produces early-drinking fruit bombs is just plain wrong. I’m not denying that there might be some occasional rich wines from warmer vintages, but “early-drinking fruit bomb” is quite far from the overall style of Maxime Graillot’s wines.
I thought I clearly stated that I googled the claim and it was specific to the 2018 which Noah C had. Now I’m inclined to believe Noah only for the fact that he had the wine and you didn’t.
You said: this is a parcel that Maxime, son and current manager of Alain Graillot’s wine operations, produces early-drinking fruit bombs from young vines that is different from his father’s better regarded Crozes-Hermitage bottling.
How I was supposed to understand that you were talking about specifically of the 2018 vintage? There’s literally nothing about the vintage here, but if you read that quote yourself, it looks like you are saying that this is the style Maxime produces wines for this label (which - according to JLL - isn’t a single-parcel wine, as you stated, but instead a wine made from purchased fruit from the southern zone of Crozes-Hermitage).
I wrote “I’ve not had the wine (2018 Equinoxe Equis) but able to google up that this is a parcel that Maxime, son and current manager of Alain Graillot’s wine operations, produces early-drinking fruit bombs from young vines that is different from his father’s better regarded Crozes-Hermitage bottling.”
Now, don’t cutting off posts to desperately suit your bad argument.
For somebody who writes paragraphs after paragraphs of tasting notes, I’d figure you’d at least read what other shorter notes that people post here.
Let’s see. Someone wrote something that could be interpreted in more than one way. Someone interpreted it one way (and presumably the way they thought reflected what was most likely intended) and took issue with its implication. The original poster clarified what the intended meaning was. The interpreter insisted on their interpretation. The original poster again clarified what they meant. Is this a dispute about meaning or something else…?
My post was crystal clear and it supports the OP’s assertion, with the full disclosure that it was not my claim but lifted/borrowed almost verbatim from the internet with the source pasted in, that the interpreter took exception to and lamely tried to discredit even as he (interpreter) had not had the wine in question.
MIC Dropped!
