(Holiday-Ready Magnums of High-Scoring Syrah...
From One of the Most Revered Names in France!)
As the Crozes Flies.
Crows-eye of Crozes highs: the Graillot vineyards
2016 Domaine des Lises
Crozes-Hermitage
(in 1.5 L Magnum Format!)
Wine Advocate: 93 pts.
Normal Price for Magnums: $70-75.
Our price: $60 on 1! Buy here.
Only $55 on 3! Buy here.
And only $50 by the 5-pack! Buy here!
TL; DR: When our recent offer of the 2015 vintage sold out, many were crestfallen! But we pulled off a Christmas miracle: get a magnum of the equally high-scoring, equally sought-after, 2016 vintage instead! This is organically farmed Crozes-Hermitage (one of Syrah's happiest places in the northern Rhône)... from a name that's one of the region's two or three most revered (Graillot)... for the best price it's ever been offered at in the US! (This is extremely limited!)
Our recent offer of extremely rare magnums of Maxime Graillot's 2015 Crozes-Hermitage... at the best price it had ever been offered at... sold out with alarming speed.
We understood how it happened -- this is a smart zip code we live in, after all -- but we wanted to make it up to the legions of disappointed Syrah-seekers! We went back to the bargaining table, and returned with a deal every bit as astonishing as the first: we're able to offer the legendary 2016 vintage at the same price as the 2015!
(One critic called the 15 and 16 vintages a "Heads You Win, Tails You Win" situation.)
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"One of the most revered names in Rhône wine."
"A living legend."
"The undisputed king of Crozes."
Those are the sorts of things you find when you Google "Graillot."
And: it's true! There are quite simply very few names as respected or as famed in the Northern Rhône, Syrah's most hallowed region.
It's the stuff of myth: poor Rhône kid (Alain Graillot) goes off to study with arguably the most esteemed winemaker in all of France (Jacques Seysses, of Burgundy's legendary Domaine Dujac)... and returns to his home in Crozes-Hermitage to found his own domaine... now the source for some of the most sought-after Syrahs in France.
Alain’s eldest son, Maxime, worked alongside him since he was a wee gosse... and from the outset he decided not just to support his father's legacy, but to blaze his own trail of vinous excellence as well. Now? He helms two operations, equally acclaimed: the eponymous Alain Graillot his father started, and the Domaine des Lises he created himself, often on adjacent/contiguous parcels. Both Graillot wineries make some of the most consistently high-scoring — and most highly sought-after — organically farmed Syrahs in all the region.
Maxime and Alain Graillot
The 2016 Domaine des Lises Crozes-Hermitage is another flat-out gorgeous example of the Graillots' mastery. Sourced from 40-year-old, organically farmed vines on a single (estate-owned) vineyard near the village of Beaumont-Monteux, Maxime ferments the wine in concrete and ages it in used barrels purchased from some of the top estates in Burgundy. (Read: he wants the purity of his fruit to be unmasked by oak!). Positively loaded with blackberries, star anise, and hints of black olives, it's balanced and bright, and soulful. Beautiful now, this will also cellar for a decade easily, for those of you smart enough to get some to age!
Don't take our word for it, though! The Wine Spectator called Maxime "amongst the leading lights in the Crozes-Hermitage appellation today," and the Wine Advocate gave his 2016 vintage 93 points, writing:
"The 2016 Crozes Hermitage delivers scents of road tar, black olives and blackberries. The tannins are silky, the acids fresh, the overall impact delicious. This medium to full-bodied wine should be ready to drink on release and drink well for 6-7 years."
Equally enthusiastic was critic Jeb Dunnock, who wrote of the 2016:
"The 2016 Crozes Hermitage Domaine Des Lises is a classic, well-made northern Rhône that has tons of exotic pepper, black fruits, sappy flower, and hints of olives. With medium body, bright acidity, and good density, it needs a year or two of bottle age to really shine and should keep through 2026. It's a rock solid Crozes in 2016."
These are expressive and exuberant Syrahs, but made with an eye toward balance and grace. (A very far cry from some of its inky, over-extracted Californian fréres.) Lovers of Northern Rhône wines owe it to themselves to try Graillot in general... but given the opportunity to get perfectly aged magnums? From "one of the two greatest vintages of the past two decades" For 33% off? All we can say is don't come looking for these in a week!
2016 Domaine des Lises
Crozes-Hermitage
(in 1.5 L Magnum Format!)
Wine Advocate: 93 pts.
Normal Price for Magnums: $70-75.
Our price: $60 on 1! Buy here.
Only $55 on 3! Buy here.
And only $50 by the 5-pack! Buy here!
(Get one for your December rack of lamb... a couple to drink in 2022-2030... and some to gift whomever it was that got you through the unending annus pandemicus!)