I Wanted to Offer this Wine Because It's Incredibly Good - The Low Price Was a Bonus - I Would Have Happily Offered it at $30.

I've been trying to offer this wine for over a year but George wouldn't sell it to me. He can and does sell it all in France. Finally, after our last big order, he relented.  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 when you've arrived if your wines are sold in his store. All of the top winemakers speak his name with reverence. You go to Tain l'Hermitage and ask for George, no one know what you are talking about. You ask for the Greek, then they laugh, nod or tell some great story about George.

Today I am finally offering the 2014 George Lelektsoglou Visan Vielles Vignes which can be had for as little as $18.99 a bottle on a 4-pack.  Visan is a not a Southern Rhone village that many of us have heard of. Brezeme, Cairanne, Gigondas are famous and some have even moved onto their own AOC's, but Visan never really gets respect or is even that popular. One thing it has going for it is that 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. Cool areas in warm wine producing areas are a sweet spot for us. Visan also has rocky soils with lots of limestone. So one cold day this February I was in the store owners by the "Greek" George Lelektsoglou, and he opened this wine, the , amongst 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 70% Grenache and 25% Syrah and 5% Mourvedre this wine has a nice dark color. 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. It's got stable Syrah to balance out the wild Grenache. It's clean, rich, ripe and so precise. 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 hot 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 was not going to sell a sub $20 Southern Rhone wine unless it was this one. It took me a year but now it is here. I'm stubborn like that and I also have my reputation to uphold.

This wine just got 5 stars (their highest rating) from the RVF and rightfully so. In the same article 2012 Chateau Figeac got 4 stars. 2012 Figeac can be had for $90-$112 and the Visan from today is $18.99. You decide.

I am also offering in this email the 2010 Compagnie de l'Hermitage Hermitage "Cuvee Des Moines" for as little as $49.99 on a 4-pack. I offered it in Februrary as well and it is being shipped with the Fall stuff but wanted as many people to get their hands on  it or order more because it is that good. My first email was so good here it is below in italics.

Jean-Louis Chave is the King of the Northern Rhone.  But when you taste with Jean-Louis he tells you to visit Georges Lelektsoglou, the owner of THE store in the Northern Rhone, Compagnie L'Hermitage.  Georges has been the first retailer to carry and push pretty much every famous name in the Northern Rhone today. He knows every grower and every plot in the Northern Rhone and was selling them the names we love before people like Kermit Lynch, Joe Dressner and myself ever heard of them.  His impact on Northern Rhone wines has been like the impact of Vogue Magazine on fashion.  Selling your wine in his store is like having your clothes sold at Barneys.  He is the Kingmaker.

There are some specific parcels and some winemakers that are so perfect that the Kingmaker bottles them under his own name.  We have one today.  Better yet, we have one from a vintage that Georges thinks is the best since 1978.  Today, I am offering the 2010 Compagnie L'Hermitage "Cuvee des Moines" for as little as $49.99 on the 4 pack.  I had this wine Friday and I can still taste it.  Popped and poured it needed around 20 minutes to develop a heavenly perfume. Gamey, floral, smokey and just ethereal nose. So sick. I couldn't keep my ginormous nose out of the glass. It kept changing and adding nuance and layers. The palate was frankly amazing and it can be drunk now. No problem. Will it improve for 15-25 years? Yes, but I had NO PROBLEM at all drinking it now. Was amazing. Dense and tannic but beautiful finesse and freshness and a finish that weaves and bobs all over your palate for minutes on end. The purity is frigging amazing.  Just beautiful. The wine was simply stunning. I was blown away and we had 2013 Gonon right before (which was amazing). 

This is better than many $80-$100 bottles of Hermitage I have had and it also had a great old gothic label. In short, this is the best value Hermitage I have ever had and you all should buy lots. It will make everybody very, very happy.  For those of you already loving the Luyton I've sold you, this is a very different wine - more deep and traditional as a counterpoint to Luyton's more feminine approach.  Both wines are great and your choice of which one to drink will depend on your mood and meal on a given night.

Who is Georges Lelektsoglou? He is a Greek immigrant to came to Hermitage years ago and opened a wine store in the main square and everybody, and I mean everybody refers to him as "The Greek." You mention you are going to see George, and they look at you puzzled, but then you correct yourself and say the Greek and they say, "ahhhhhhh yes," and usually smile and chuckle to themselves. This guy is a character and passionately loves the Rhone like no one else I have met and everybody knows him.  His son, Charamblos, is also now heavily involved in the business as well. 

I just arrived in Tain l'Hermitage on Friday and my first stop was to see the Greek. I only wanted to pop in and say hello and ask where to eat. It was a weird time and I wasn't sure what was open. But out came the wild boar saucisson sec, fresh baked crusty bread from next door, and a day old black truffle, freshly sliced, and topped with local olive oil and sea salt. Of course we needed something to drink with that. Many wines were opened and that is how I "discovered" this one.

2014 Georges Lelektsoglou Visan "Vieilles Vignes" - $20.99 

($75.96 4-pack)

2010 Compagnie L'Hermitage "Cuvee des Moines" - $52.99
($199.96 4-pack) (Limited)