As I look at at my cellar inventory there is always one glaring hole. That is the wines of Domaine Chasselvin. Why is that? Because as soon as I get them I drink them within 6 weeks. I don't have many wines like Chasslevin in my portfolio. That is wines I don't feel insanely guilty about drinking before they are ready. I love these wines. These are beyond pleasurable to me as I have the unfair delight that you all don't of knowing Etienne Chomorat and his lovely wife Dorothee. This year I had the pleasure of dining one evening with them and I learned so much about them and even more about their terrific and most importantly, empty magnums lined up their counter at the end of the night. Etienne never opens magnums and he opened a mag of the 2006 and 2007 to go with the best Beef Bourgignon (cooked with 5 bottles of Chasslevin Crozes) I have ever had in my life. These wines, are meant, in my humble opinion, to be enjoyed with great food, great friends and in a great environment. Etienne and Dorothee have a really cool, very white house and white dogs as well. I love drinking the dark young and older hues of Syrah in their unique, modern white house. Anytime I needed to see the color of the wine, boom, I had dozens of choices against which to frame the glass. I also learned that these affordable and delicious wines, age wonderfully in the medium term. Both mags were drinking out of their minds and showed delicacy and complexity that only comes with aged wines.
2014 is a wonderful vintage in the Northern Rhone and is in a line of so many great vintages for the North. '11's 12's '13's and 14's. I'd take anyone of them. They all are different of course but do share a lovely drinkability and a maddening consistency. '14 has terrific structure and will last mid to long term, but it also very special for whites, even more-so than reds. Northern Rhone whites will always be a niche category but they should not be as they have such unique and distinctive character and an unpredicatability that people on this list really clamor for. The reds have great supple and juicy fruit, but also have a real fine finesse driven quality to them. There is also admirable depth and precision. Think of like a 2001 in Burgundy, 2004 in the Rheinhessen or 2001 in the Northern Rhone. There is terrific ripe silky and luscious fruit but good backbones for mid to long term cellaring. These will be good deals looking in as the hype machine starts for 2015.
First up is the 2014 Domaine des Chasslevin Crozes-Hermitage Rouge which can be had for $21.99 on a four pack. 100% tank aged and with amazing freshness and verve, yet has all that dark, Chasslevin Syrah fruit. Floral, bacon aromas abound with vivid berry dominating now. There are also some nice olive and mineral notes which is common in the Syrah from Monteux sector of Crozes. It's a deliciously fruity wine but in the classic French manner, which is balanced with acidity (great density this year!) and dripping with terroir and character. Do yourself a favor and buy this wine. Lots of it. It will make you smile.
The second wine is the 2014 Domaine des Chasslevin Crozes-Hermitage Blanc, which can be had for $21.99 on a four pack. The Chasselvins are a part of what I call the new wave of Northern Rhone winemakers who make whites that have the acid balance allowing them to be drink young. Many Northern Rhone whites don't have great acidity because those grapes just don't have enough natural acidity. Harvest decisions are extra important with Marsanne and Rousanne, especially if you want a racy style, which Chasslevin is. It's got terrific nerve and vibrancy, and 2014 has great acidity, density and verve which gives this wine even more lift. Amazing density of fruit for a humble white Rhone and terrific complexity after proper aeration. This price represents a little amount of money for what amounts to complex white wine, with the ability to age 3-7 years. Aging these is terrific as the change in white Rhone can be dramatic. They get nutty and honeyed but still retain terrific acidity. Almost honeycomb like. Age your Crozes Blanc.
Crozes-Hermitage has had a complex history. Okay, not really. There was Alain Graillot, who is perfectly ok, albeit a bit expensive now, as the wine public and critics have anointed him, the guy for Crozes-Hermitage. There are many, many great growers in Crozes, especially over the last 4-6 years as young, up and coming growers cannot buy land in Cote-Rotie, Cornas and Hermitage easily as there is not much and what there is is very expensive. Crozes-Hermitages is becoming recognized as a hot new AOC where young, talented winemakers are making their bones.
Etienne and Dorothee Chomarat's first vintage was 2005 and he had it difficult as he was not the son of wine growers so he had to start from scratch. He studied in Burgundy and the Rhone Valley and he told me the winemaker he most wants to emulate and has influenced him the most is Yves Gangloff in Cote-Rotie. He has 10 hectares of Crozes evenly divided between white and red. Both are sensational. His whites are electric. They use the lutee raissonee method of vineyard work. They will spray only if necessary. This is the way many young growers work these days as they can't be 100% ideological, make great wine and run a business, all at the same time.
2014 Domaine de Chasslevin Crozes-Hermitage Rouge - $23.99
($87.96 4-pack) (LIMITED)
2014 Domaine de Chasslevin Crozes-Hermitage Blanc - $23.99
($87.96 4-pack) (LIMITED)
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