2018 Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage

Red apples, black pepper. Gorgeously fresh. Explosive! This fills every corner of the mouth. So, so gouleyant. There is a very subtle hint of mint chocolate, white pepper, cacao husks. Orange citrus. So, so fresh. This is flying! GV (TC)

Glass-staining ruby. Powerful, smoke- and spice-accented blackberry, cherry and violet aromas show excellent delineation and pick up vanilla and allspice notes with air. Sweet and broad in the mouth, offering pliant dark berry liqueur, vanilla and floral pastille flavors and a suggestion of exotic spices. The impressively long finish features bright minerality, an echo of sappy dark fruit and velvety tannins that come in late. Note that the "Larnage" moniker, referencing this new wine's origin, is a placeholder for now, as it does not yet have an official name. It is in bottle. Raised in one new Stockinger foudre .

Maxime Graillot showed me a single 20-hectoliter Stockinger foudre (new) that held the 2018 Crozes Hermitage Unnamed Cuvee. From a single hectare of east-facing vines in Larnage, planted in 2003, this looks to be a stunning Crozes. It's a bit tarry, but incredible depth of purple raspberries comes through in this full-bodied yet silky wine. It's firm but ripe, with impeccable structure and a long, long finish.