Moving to the three Hermitage releases, the 2020 Hermitage Domaine Des Tourettes offers a deep, saturated purple hue as well as a powerful bouquet of scorched earth, creosote, peppered meat, liquid violets, and both black...

(VN 93-95 points) Full, bright-rimmed violet. Highly fragrant cherry and black raspberry scents, along with suggestions of pipe tobacco, olive, peony and baking spices. Juicy and energetic in the mouth, offering...

A tasting of component barrels for this wine made for an instructive view of the vintage. Certain sites show the lightness of the vintage, fresh and peppery. Others, such as Bonnivières and Tartaras, exhibited the rigid...

My favorite release from this estate is consistently their Les Bessards Hermitage, and their 2019 is no exception. Coming from the western part and pure broken granite soils on the west side of this magical hill, it...

All of the classic Cote-Rotie aromas (leather, smoked bacon, spices and black cherry) pour from the glass of this rich and fleshy wine. Very silky texture, in spite of the generous, fine tannins, which build beautifully...

(VN 92-94 points) Shimmering ruby. Expressive, spice-accented red and dark berry aromas are complemented by suggestions of olive, espresso and candied flowers. Juicy and energetic on the palate, offering gently sweet...

Opaque ruby. Mineral-accented blackberry, cherry, smoked meat and olive aromas show fine detail and a spicy black pepper flourish. Energetic cherry and red and dark berry flavors are complemented by a candied violet...

(VN 95-97 points) Dark purple. Vibrant, expansive aromas of spice-accented dark berries, minerals and candied flowers pick up suggestions of olive, vanilla and smoky bacon with air. Sappy and energetic in style, offering...

Inky ruby. Expressive dark fruit aromas are complemented by suggestions of candied flowers, olive and candied licorice, and a bright mineral nuance adds vivacity. Fleshy and open-knit, offering appealingly sweet blueberry...

Very enticing, showing a plump core of dark currant and blackberry preserve flavors, with ganache, anise and savory hints providing nice contrast from start to finish. Nice streamlined finish. Drink now through 2030...

Burning embers, graphite, violets, and mostly blue fruits dominate the 2020 Saint Joseph Les Royes, an Hermitage-like Saint Joseph that has medium to full-bodied richness, a seamless, elegant mouthfeel, ripe tannins, and...

(95+ points) Similarly deep purple-hued, the 2020 Cornas Terre Brulee has a darker, slightly richer, yet less complex style that also warrants bottle age. Offering more black fruits, scorched earth, burning embers, and...

(94 - 97 points) Tasted from a new barrel, the 2018 Cote Rotie Rose Pourpre features mocha and plum notes. It's full-bodied, rich and velvety, with that weight offset by cool menthol notes, and the lengthy finish even...

(95+ points) The 2020 Cornas Pur Granit is brilliant stuff. Ripe black cherries, blueberries, scorched earth, smoked game, and iron are just some of its nuances, and it's medium to full-bodied, has a pure, layered...

If you own this wine and have a lot of patience, this is going to be a gem. There is a fabulous depth of flavor that comes from its seamless layers of black and red fruits, smoke, licorice, olives, and spice. Rich...

Explosive blackberry and elderberry fruit on the nose, but there’s nothing exaggerated about this youthful Saint-Joseph. Seriously ripe with a wonderful coolness to the concentrated and focused palate. The fine-grained...

St. Joseph is often declared to be a second tier appellation in the Northern Rhone, but here’s proof that it can play in the first league of the region. This has an incredibly deep nose of ripe blackberries, other forest...

The 2018 Côte Rôtie Les Triotes offers another level of richness, giving up lots of black and red fruits intermixed with plenty of peppery spice, plum sauce, and candied violets. With loads of charm, medium to full body...

The 2020 Cornas Renaissance is rock star juice and it's up with the finest examples of this cuvée I've tasted. Awesome red, blue, and black fruit, charred meats, pepper, and liquid violet notes all emerge from this...

Such deep, plum-essence and licorice aromas here with cassis and blackcurrant pastille on offer. The palate has a very succulent and gently grainy tannin core, as well as plums and ripe blackberries to close. Drink or hold.

St.-Joseph isn’t always as elegant as it is cracked up to be, but this delicious wine is very fresh and elegant in spite of the full smoky and peppery character. Well-structured, the tannins shaping the focused and...

(95-97 points) A classic wine from this terroir, the 2018 Côte Rôtie La Landonne has a powerful, smoky, minerality style as well as rocking cassis and black raspberry fruit, full body, the plush, sexy, opulence of the...

I was also able to taste the 2018s from bottle. Starting with the 2018 Cornas Renaissance, it has plenty of meaty, gamey nuances as well as ample red and black fruits, full body, ripe, supple tannins, and classic Cornas...

Last of the 2018s, the 2018 Hermitage Ex Voto shows a riper, more sunny profile and has a killer nose of ripe blackberries, cassis, spice, game, woodsmoke, and bacon fat. The tannins from Hermitage always have a different...

(94+ points) Also terrific, the 2020 Saint Joseph La Cotte Sud has a riper, spicier style in its red and black fruits, scorched earth, violets, and spicy, incense, and meaty nuances. It's another powerful, concentrated...

The star of the show as well as one of the wines of this great vintage, the 2019 Ermitage Le Pavillon comes all from broken granite soils of the Bessards lieu-dit and was all destemmed, vinified in concrete tanks, and...

Inky ruby color. Expressive kirsch, cassis and candied violet scents, along with hints of vanilla, espresso and olive paste. Juicy and broad on the palate, offering appealingly sweet, deeply concentrated black and blue...

An incredibly refined, elegant, floral and silky Hermitage. The nose shows notes of dark cherries, forest berries, sweet spices, forest floor and a hint of roasted meat. Medium-bodied with finely grained tannins. It’s...

(96+) The 2012 Hermitage Ex Voto (which I suspect won’t be produced again until 2015) was bottled in January of this year and it’s a big, voluptuous beauty that’s loaded with fruit and texture. Crème de cassis, black...

Nearly 20-years-old now, but still remarkably darkly coloured. It has an incredible smoky, spicy nose, firework smoke and smoked duck - a gathering of every imaginable wood smoke! Medium-bodied, very soft and silky with...