One of my favorite things to do when I am in the Northern Rhone is taste with the Greek aka Georges Lelektsoglou at his store with him and his son Charlie. George is the King of the Rhone, the first retailer to sell pretty much every famous wine from the Rhone. He is a legend among the producers there.
One of the things George is the most proud of and is also the most secretive about are his sources for his cuvees that fall under the name Compagnie l'Hermitage, which is the name of his store. He knows everyone and anyone in the Rhone and has only the best sources for his vineyards and fruit for cuvees he puts his name or his store's name on. He's been tasting the best wines from the region every year for decades and knows exactly where to get the absolutely best fruit. He also picks incredibly talented winemakers to partner with to make the wines. These wines are all undeniably great and some of the best examples of their appellations. And this is his side project. The guy is amazing! They are thrilling wines. George is an uncompromising guy and he oversees all the vineyards and winemaking decisions. It shows as these are some of the greatest wines I sell and they are also amongst the rarest. I tasted the whole batch when I was there and they all, as expected, blew me away.
The one that really blew my mind this time was the 2014 Compagnie L'Hermitage Chateauneuf-du-Pape "lieu dit Pignan" for as little as $74.99 a bottle on a 3-pack. This is 100% old vine Grenache (80-100 years) and is one of the greatest Chateauneuf-du-Papes I have ever tasted. It is such a deep, stoney and extraordinarily complex wine. Deep, palate staining and astonishingly balanced. It goes on for minutes and after proper aeration a perfume like you cannot believe develops. Darker fruits than more red. And so stoney, which I will repeat often. I can only imagine the source of the vineyard and grapes given the name of the wine. This is a CDP in a pure style with astonishing depth and layers of fruit all presented on slabs of rock. The nose is pungent and aromatic with a raspberry coulis, complex spice and so much stoney minerality. For my money this is as good as many of the more high priced deluxe cuvees out there and the 2012 got 95 pts from Jeb Dunnuck and he said it was amongst the top CDP's of the vintage. At $75 a bottle for one of the top CDP's in today's market is quite a feat. This is very limited as only 600 bottles were made in this vintage. This is only made in vintages that allow it and there was none made in 2013 and 2012 was sold out before I opened Fass Selections. I am VERY lucky to get an allocation of this wine and this is the first time I am offering this insanely rare cuvee. This will be allocated so put in your top amount and I try and abide.
Below is Jeb's review of the 2012. I drank a bottle of it last week with some friends and it was mind boggling. The 12 and 14 are equal in quality in my opinion. The perfume, defined fruit and structure are what make it stand apart.
"Up with the crème de la crème of the vintage, the 2012 Châteauneuf du Pape Lieu Dit Pignan is 100% Grenache that was raised all in stainless steel tanks. Perfumed, sexy and downright hedonistic, this beauty gives up tons of wild strawberry, licorice, violets, and wild flower aromas and flavors. Full-bodied, concentrated and with a big mid-palate, it has terrific purity of fruit, sweet tannin and a great finish. This is full-throttle Châteauneuf-du-Pape that remains fresh, lively and oh so drinkable. Enjoy it anytime over the coming 10-12 years." - 95 pts
2014 Compagnie l'Hermitage Chateaneuf-du-Pape "lieu dit Pignan" - $79.99 ($224.97 3-pack) (VERY LIMITED)
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