Red Wine of the Year - 2015 Rhone Under $20, Perhaps Our Best Red Wine Value Ever - Drinks Like $40-$50

Please Just Pretend This Wine Costs $40 and It's Half Off 
The Magnum Opus of the King of the Rhone
2014 Was Stunning - the 2015 Is Even Better

A Masterpiece Rhone Wine with Gorgeous, Pure, Mineral Fruit with Perfect Acid Balance

The Crazy Concentration and Freshness of the 2015 Vintage

This is another private label wine from the top wine retailer in the Northern Rhone.  The"Greek," as everyone calls him, has been the first retailer to sell most of the big Rhone stars we all know today.  I call him the Kingmaker because you know you've arrived when your wines are sold in his store. All of the top winemakers speak his name with reverence.  The Greek knows every AOC, every vineyard in every AOC and every rock in every vineyard like the back of his hand.  And while he makes fancier wines under his own name, I think that this wine is his greatest accomplishment.  Why?  Because it drinks like a really, really good wine that costs twice as much.  If it cost $40, I would still happily sell it.  It's such insane QPR that it merits being the RWOTY.

I've got a caveat that comes with it. It's like the most French thing ever as well, but it is what it is. There is only a 40% chance this wine gets bottled by Fass Selections January pickup. Which also means there is a 60% chance that it will be shipped next fall.

The 2017 Red Wine of the Year is none other than the 2015 Compagnie l Hermitage (Georges Lelektsoglou) Visan for as little as $19.99 on a 4-pack and $17.99 a bottle on a case or more!  Yes - this is a Cotes du Rhone from the little known village of Visan. Visan is in the Northern sector of the Southern Rhone, which means a higher Syrah content as it is cooler, which we like at Fass Selections. Visan also has rocky soils with lots of limestone.  The Visan has stable Syrah to balance out the wild Grenache. It's clean, rich, ripe and so precise. And man is it deep. This wine has the depth of a wine at $40-$50 in the great 2015 vintage. Extra fruit that 2015 brings allied with the extra freshness 2015 brings makes this not just another Cotes du Rhone, but like a huge wave that elevates a surfer as an almost deity of the ocean for a passing few seconds this wine has the vintage wave that is 2015 taking it and elevating much higher than you can possibly imagine.  If you've tasted a lot of the wines I've brought in they tend to be mineral-driven, high acid wines, with terrific fruit when it is a wine that has or features fruit. This has all the terrific stoniness the South is known for but with really clean, rich, precise fruit. If I'm drinking Southern Rhone it tends to be for explosive yet contained fruit. Backed by the stoniness of the Southern Rhone it can be a dreamy combo and what one wants. But this also being more north you get a lot of the cooling blue fruits that are preponderant in the North. It's absolutely one of the best red wine values we sell at Fass Selections and this is the first Southern Rhone "value" wine we have ever sold. It is truly that impressive. This is a great wine to open every day with everything from hamburgers to steak and given its price point, a great wine for parties. I can't believe that a wine that is


How did I first try this wine?  One cold day this March I was in the store owned by the "Greek" George Lelektsoglou, and he opened this wine from a barrel sample he just grabbed amongst big league Hermitage Red and White, Cote-Rotie and Chateauneufs all under his name or his stores name. The ultimate private labels. Have the greatest winemakers in the Rhone make wines for you from the best terroir, which you know, as you've been here since the beginning. So every wine we sell from George, that he has picked out, he has also visited the site and/or consulted with the winemaker, unless the winemaker is himself! This allegedly "little" Visan from a small organic vineyard was just as impressive as some of the great terroir of the Rhone in its own way. A blend of 50% Syrah (partially barrel aged) and 50% Grenache (tank fermented), this is as impressive as a CDRV as one will ever encounter for under $20.  The light color of high % Grenache based Cotes du Rhone scares me I must admit. It sometimes can lead to a hot stewy mess because Grenache can be easily overblown and alcoholic in the South. The color is the first hint something could go wrong. This wine does not do that. And the first indication is the color which is a nice dark but still mildly opaque ruby. Soaring nose of herbs, cooling blue fruits, exotic kirsch liquer, lavender and tons of stones. Incredibly evocative of place and just screams Southern Rhone, but darker. Palate is layered as layered can be with great cut and vigor, deep swath of utterly ripe tannins and mega juicy fruit. The fruit is blue/red/black and there is so much of it, in waves and layers, yet it still finishes with a firm mineral backbone. This will age well over the next 5-10 years.

2015 Compagnie de L'Hermitage (Lelektsoglou)Visan Vieilles Vignes -$21.99 ($79.96 4-pack, $215.88 12 bottle case) (LIMITED)