Prefer the old site?Launch →

Domaine Albert Belle

For the first time, Belle pere et fils did not offer their special Crozes-Hermitage cuvee, Louis Belle, in the difficult 2002 vintage. "It wasn't up to our standards," said Philippe Belle. "Declassifying the wine into our regular cuvee protects the image of the domaine," said Philippe, noting that this decision resulted in a significant financial loss. Sugars were low in 2002, but Belle told me that the family could wait to pick, and was able to benefit from drying northerly breezes and greater ripeness, as their hillside vines in Larnage are less prone to rot. Still, they threw out 40% of their grapes for rot and underripeness. The 2003s here are another story. The Belles were on vacation until August 21 and then couldn't start picking until the 27th. "So we ended up making hyperconcentrated wines, in color, alcohol and tannins," said Philippe. Potential alcohols were in the very high 14. 5% to 15. 5% range. The family took advantage of their cold room (normally used for apricots) to chill the fruit to about 50oF and then did their normal cold maceration to get more aromatic complexity. According to Philippe, they did a normal cuvaison of up to a month because after the first two weeks the tannins were still quite tough. "So we let it go for another two weeks to soften the tannins," Philippe explained. "If we had de-cuved too early, we would have had austere, dry tannins. The big difference in 2003 was the fact that we had very little juice in the grapes. "As you can see from my notes, 2003 is a knockout here. (Robert Kacher Selections, Washington, D. C.)

From 2003 and 2002 Northern Rhone Wines (Jan 2005) by Stephen Tanzer

Reviews

Wines

Sort by default

2002 Crozes-Hermitage Cuvee Les Pierrelles

Release Price: $18

Color: Red

Subscriber Access Only

or Sign Up

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer vitae aliquam odio. Aliquam purus diam, tempor et consectetur vitae, eleifend ac quam. Proin nec mauris ac odio iaculis semper. Integer posuere pharetra aliquet. Nullam tincidunt sagittis est in maximus. Donec sem orci, vulputate ac quam non, consectetur fermentum diam. In dignissim magna id orci dignissim convallis. Integer sit amet placerat dui. Aliquam pharetra ornare nulla at vulputate. Sed dictum, mi eget fringilla lacinia, nisl tortor condimentum mi, vitae ultrices quam diam ac neque. Donec hendrerit vulputate felis, fringilla varius massa.