Crozes-Hermitage (12) Domaine des Lises / Domaine Alain Graillot

February 19, 2025February 26, 2025 jamiegoode 789 Views crozes-hermitage, Northern Rhone

I’ve been following the wines of Alain Graillot for a long time. They’ve always been benchmark, old school Crozes-Hermitage, wines that can stand with the more famous appellations in the northern Rhône. Alain passed a few years ago, but his domaine is still going strong. I visited with winemaker Thomas Schmittel, who works on both Domaine Alain Graillot wines and also the Domaine des Lises/Maxime Graillot wines made in the next door cellar, sharing a family resemblance but made in different styles.

Graillot started in 1985, and always took a whole-bunch approach to working with Syrah. His son Antoine started des Lises in 2004, and destems but doesn’t crush for most grapes (although there is often a portion of whole bunch). Both domaines are organic and all harvest is by hand. ‘It’s a human and ethical decision,’ says Thomas, ‘rather than a technical decision.’

They work a lot with cover crops, and sow just after harvest in order to have cover for the soil over the next season. ‘It’s more important to have cover on the ground with climate change,’ says Thomas.

At des Lises they only do punch downs, and keep 30% whole bunch for most cuvees with just one 100% destemmed. For the first 4-5 days they do nothing, but keep things cool. The fermentation starts slowly: they are aiming for a more peaceful fermentation, not a rapid one. They warm to end the maceration, and the next day go to demi muids or foudres. At Graillot the approach is 100% whole bunch in bigger concrete tanks. They crush the whole bunches first and just pump over, no punching down. Fermentation isi usually faster, so whereas Les Lises will be 19-20 day maceration, it’s 15-16 days at Graillot. There are always lots of lees at Graillot so the wine stays a while in concrete tank and then goes to barrel later.

Domaine des Lises Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2023
This is the final blend from tank. This was a difficult vintage at the beginning with lots of humidity in spring and summer. Then the last two weeks in August were warm: it was like a big hair-dryer for 15 days. Two short rains helped and the vintage finished well. This is very floral with sweet black cherries. Exotic with some subtle cured meat notes. Fresh and vivid with nice acidity. This is really fine with lovely presence and focus. 95/100

Domaine Les Lises Saint Joseph 2023 (sample from demi-muid)
30% whole bunch. This won’t be released until 2026. Powerful, vivid and intense with black cherries and blackberries. Firm tannins with amazing energy and acidity. Such power here: this is spicy and expressive. 97/100

Domaine des Lises Cornas 2023 (sample from demi-muid)
Wonderful perfume of black cherries and minerals with lovely concentration. Such intensity and power, showing lovely precision and some firm tannic structure. Has a sense of freshness. Linear and refined. 95/100

Domaine des Lises Crozes-Hermitage Blanc 2023 (tank sample)
70% Marsanne, 30% Roussanne. High density plantings (10 000 per hectare) in Les Pends, which is a great place for whites – it’s near Mercurol. Fermented and aged in used demi muids and a wine globe. Lovely citrus drive with bright pear fruit. So mineral with good acidity and a hint of bitterness on the finish. 94/100

Domaine des Lises Crozes-Hermitage Blanc 2022
14% alcohol. A blend of two parcels. Rich and bold with honey, apple and straw as well as pear skin and melon. Ripe and textured with some depth to it. Bold with some salty hints, and nice oxidative notes. Distinctive. 92/100

Domaine des Lises Equinoxe Crozes-Hermitage 2023
Grapes bought from neighbours, Domaine de Chêne Vert, who have just started making wine. In 2010 the contract with the cooperative ended and he offered the grapes, they were already working organically. 100% destemmed, 9 day maceration, infusion approach. Aged in large oak. Enticing peppery edge to the sweet blackberries and black cherries. There’s some meatiness and intensity here with a spicy edge to the sweet fruit. Brooding and complex with a nice spicy, vivid edge. But overall, this is about drinkability. 93/100

Domaine des Lises Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2022
2022 was very warm and dry, but at the end this came in with 12% alcohol. For many years they have been harvesting earlier, even in August and what this has given the vines is two months with leaves without any grapes so this could be helping with more even maturity. The vines are healthy until the beginning of November. Except in 2024. Concentrated and dense with grippy tannins under the sweet black fruits, with just a hint of pepper and meat. Brooding with gravel and graphite, with some energy, and a long future ahead of it, perhaps. 94/100

Domaine des Lises Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2009
The first of a string of warm and dry vintages. Perfumed with lovely floral black fruits and some dried herb and pepper. It’s ripe, and there’s a slight baked fruit character, but it’s still full of interest. The palate has olives and herbs, a touch of rubber reduction, with lush sweet black fruits. Lovely energy here with brightness on the finish. This is intriguing and intense, and drinking very well, but perhaps with more to come. 94/100

Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage Blanc 2023
Alluvial sands, 80% Marsanne, 20% Roussanne. Demi-muid and steel. Nice texture here with some apple and pear fruit, as well as a slight honeyed hint. Nicely complex with some dried straw and a crystalline citrus finish. 92/100

Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2023 (cask sample)
This will be bottled in March 2025. Brooding black cherry and spice nose with some olive, crushed rock and pepper. There’s a hint of cured meat, too. The palate is powerful and rich with olive and meat savouriness under the sleek black fruits. Such energy and depth. 95/100

Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2022
Real concentration here with some grippy tannins alongside dense black cherry and blackberry fruit with notes of pepper and cured meat, as well as a touch of olive. Very dense with nice energy. Grippy with some stem character here adding complexity and freshness, as well as nervy tannins. Bold and dense. Lots of potential for development. 95/100

Domaine Alain Graillot La Guiraude Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2023
At the end of élevage Maxime tastes all the barrels and makes a selection for this wine. It’s his reading of the vintage. Some years they will make 1000 bottles, another year 10 000. This has real density and polish with a touch of wildness, too. Black cherries and blackberries, together with good structure and some sternness. Notes of olive and meat, too. Grippy and fine, and one for ageing. 96/100

Domaine Alain Graillot La Guiraude Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2022
Perfumed aromatics here with lavender, floral black cherries and some cured meat. The palate has freshness, firm tannins and sleek black fruits, but also some stern savoury elements with herbs, iodine and gravel. There’s freshness and a lot of latent energy here: this is for cellaring, and it will be quite beautiful in time. 96/100

Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2009
Sweetly aromatic with some stewed plums as well as cherries, pepper and olives. In the mouth this has power and energy, but also some focus. A hint of reduction, and then sweet fruit backed up by olive, herbs and iodine. Tannic still. Evolving in interesting ways with some way to go. 95/100

Domaine des Lises / Domaine Alain Graillot
105 Chemin des Chênes Verts – 26600 Pont de l’Isère
+33 (0)4 75 84 67 52

CROZES-HERMITAGE

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