Domaine Combier Crozes-Hermitage "Cuvée L" red 2024

PRESENTATION OF DOMAINE COMBIER
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Domaine Combier Crozes-Hermitage "Cuvée L" red 2024

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (Y. Castaing, May 2026): 89/100. The 2024 Crozes-Hermitage Cuvée L opens with indulgent aromas of black cherry, blueberry, and cassis. Medium-bodied, fresh, and juicy, it’s supple and enveloping, offering immediate appeal and easy drinkability. DRINK 2026-2030

Our comment: Although a "small" cuvée, the "cuvée L", made from young vines, is generally intended for immediate consumption (even though it can last at least 3-5 years in a good cellar depending on the vintage): its winemaking process is exemplary of thought and expertise. Like all great winemakers, Laurent Combier hand-harvests and sorts his berries to keep only the perfectly ripe ones.

But that’s where the magic happens. After destemming his bunches to avoid any bitterness, the winemaker ferments in temperature-controlled tanks to preserve the finesse of the aromas. He punches down every day and performs two pump-overs daily (what a job!), and finally, after about three weeks, places half of the juice in "normal" concrete tanks and the other half in small 7-hectoliter oval tanks, specially made by a local artisan friend. The shape of these tanks allows the lees to remain in suspension during the 6 to 10 months of aging, giving the wine complexity and vibrant fruit, while benefiting from extremely fine tannins.

Rare for an entry-level cuvée!

WARNING: if you taste the wine right after opening, you may find it bland or hollow. It needs the oxygen that was withheld before bottling (to add as few sulfites as possible). It should be aerated for an hour or two in a decanter, and served like most quality red wines around 17-18°C.
 

Technical sheet written by the domaine:

Terroir: Clay-limestone plateau with rolled pebbles to the South, loess hills to the North

Grape variety: 100% Syrah

Yield: 45 hectoliters / ha, manual harvest with selective sorting.
Vines less than 10 years old.

Winemaking: 20 days in temperature-controlled concrete tanks, total destemming, punching down and pump-overs morning and evening. Aging for 8 to 10 months in 7hl oval concrete tanks.