Louis Barruol Cote Rotie "Besset" 2015
(Cote Rotie, Northern Rhone, France) - [WS 94]

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About this wine:

Nearly forty years of doing business in France and Italy have given Kermit Lynch a level of expertise that few in the wine industry can boast. Countless hours with growers in some of the most famous vineyards and cellars of Europe have offered more than just a casual look at what it takes to be a great grower, let alone a great winemaker. Kermit Lynch was the first to champion the benefits of unfined and unfiltered wines, long before they had become fashionable. This belief is really a matter of taste, and the proof has always been in the glass, offering a purer expression of fruit and an unadulterated reflection of the terroir. Kermit's conviction has been so strong over the years that he has been able to persuade even the most hard-headed vignerons to test his theories.

Long-term relationships with vignerons in every major wine growing region offer a tremendous array of opportunities. Every year, Kermit enjoys a creative collaboration with some growers to find the best of their selections. Together, they work towards creating a final blend that showcases the region in all its glory at a price point that is difficult to match.

Louis Barruol is an indefatigable force in the Rhone. He is the fourteenth generation in his family to be making wine in this sixteenth-century domaine in Gigondas. On what was once the site of a Roman villa, Louis' cellars show spectacular remains of old, Roman vinification vats carved into the limestone. Here, Louis works with different grape varietals from the Rhone, vinifying each parcel separately. He has recently taken to acting as a micro-negociant, working closely with top growers in the northern part of the region who still work with Serine, an ancient version of Syrah. Producing only a few precious barrels of each cuvee, Louis is helping to save the authenticity and the identity of many great old Cote Rotie parcels, and now those of Hermitage and Crozes, by keeping them out of the hands of the large, corporate negociants in the area. Together, he and Kermit blend our Northern Rhone wines from a selection of Louis' purchases. Louis selects the best parcels he can find, and then Kermit shows up and either has a cuvee bottled unfiltered, or he blends to find the assemblage that satisfies his esthetic criteria.

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94 Points - Wine Spectator Magazine:
"Dense and youthfully muscular, with a cloak of warm ganache over a hefty core of steeped black currant, black cherry and bitter plum fruit. A serious graphite bolt underscores the finish, along with ample smoldering tobacco and singed iron details. Best from 2019 through 2032. 148 cases imported." - JM (Sep 2017)