Hermitage Les Bessards Delas Frères 1998

Lot presentation

Hermitage Les Bessards Delas Frères 1998

The wine

An exceptional location, the Bessards hillside gives birth to the most famous red Hermitage cuvées. Maison Delas owns eight hectares, at the heart of the hill, where the oldest vines are found, all facing south and protected from the winds. This wine is made only in the best years, from a selection of the best sections and produced in very small quantities (6,000 bottles). Viticulture is done entirely by hand, the yields are reduced to between 15 and 20 hl/ha, and the grapes are from sixty-year-old vines. In the cellar, a two-day, cold, pre-fermentation maceration precedes vinification, which will be interspersed with daily punch-down and pump-over. Ageing takes place for 12 to 14 months in new barriques or in those which have held one wine. Enjoyed thanks to its mouth-watering aromas of blueberry, blackcurrant, blackberry, liquorice, pepper and toasted oak, this wine offers exceptional density and opulence, and can be kept for a considerable time, up to 25 years in the noteworthy vintages.

About the Producer Delas Frères

Founded in 1835, Maison Delas Frères is a part of a very exclusive circle of the finest producers in the Rhône Valley in terms of both quality and variety of appellations. The domaine was bought by Champagne Deutz in 1977 and then by Maison Roederer in 1993 but the spirit of the wines remains unchanged and faithful to their terroir. In 1996 Fabrice Rosset (Champagne Deutz) was appointed to manage the domaine and soon realised the great potential of the vineyard. He hired Jacques Grange, a young oenologue who had already proved his worth at some of the finest Rhône domaines. Thanks to him, the quality of wines at Delas has improved hugely and the domaine has invested accordingly: the winery has been entirely refurbished and 7,000 feet of vines have been replanted. It spans over 30 hectares of which 10 are in Hermitage, 18 in Crozes-Hermitage and 2 in Saint-Joseph. Delas Frères is also a negoçiant and offers wines from other appellations, such as Cornas, Côte-Rôtie et Condrieu.

Detailed characteristics