2004 Crozes Hermitage Tour D'Albon

"Two thousand four is a vintage of balance, as is 2005, but 2005 has more richness and more power to go with it," winemaker Jacques Grange told me before presenting his impressive collection of wines from those two vintages. He likens 2005 to 1999 and insists that it's a vintage that must be held. "It's all structure and potential now," he explained. Grange reported lower than normal yields in 2004 for Delas' best sites and this is reflected in the wines, which are indeed balanced but also display impressive power. Grange, who is from Burgundy, responded to my comment on the elegant, almost Burgundian qualities of many of these wines by saying "I guess it's my fate. "(Maisons Marques & Domaines, Oakland, CA) Also recommended: 2004 Crozes-Hermitage Les Launes (86). Other wines tasted: 2005 Crozes-Hermitage Les Launes Blanc, 2004 Cornas Chante-Perdrix*, 2005 Crozes-Hermitage Les Launes.

Winemaker Jacques Grange oversees a wide collection of wines for this large negociant and vineyard owner, but the impressive level of quality, especially at the upper end of the range, makes clear that he has no trouble consistently making highly expressive wines.Grange is able to offer informed opinions of vintages in the Northern Rhone owing to his work in appellations stretching from Cote-Rotie to Cornas.Vintage 2004, he says, brought uniform quality up and down the river, while 2003 "was simply surreal, with vines shut down all over the Rhone Valley.We got ripeness but often not maturity in this crazy year, and we had to harvest through all of the Northern Rhone virtually at once, starting on August 19th, one month earlier than usual."The successes here in 2003 owe largely to brutal selection that cut production levels dramatically.