2017 Hermitage Les Diognières

Laurent Fayolle represents the sixth generation of his family in Gervans. His seven-hectare domaine has been quickly rising to the upper tier of northern Rhône producers over the last few vintages, and this new set of releases are their best wines yet. His tiny, 0.3-hectare holding in the southern reaches of Hermitage (which also makes a white wine) produces, unsurprisingly, the top bottling here, but the smart money is on the Crozes-Hermitage Clos Les Corinets, which is sourced from a 0.83-hectare parcel of 70-plus-year-old vines in the commune of Crozes-Hermitage, on granite soil. This is consistently a wine of noteworthy depth, complexity and structure that can rival many a Hermitage and, in my opinion, in most vintages it's now one of the very best renditions of the appellation, if not the very best. The Crozes-Hermitage Hauterives is fermented and raised in concrete tanks and the others are fermented and aged in oak casks of varying size, not much of it new. The wines all have a fair amount of whole cluster. It's great news that these superb wines are finally really available in the US, but, as might be expected, they are not going to be easy to find.

The extended Fayolle family has a long history in Gervans, and this particular branch’s domaine, now run by the father-and-son team of Jean-Claude and Nicolas Fayolle, produces wines in a highly traditional manner, with low intervention in the cellar and without de-stemming. The Fayolles own a single hectare of vines on the Hermitage hill, at Dionnières, which is planted 80% to Syrah and the rest to Marsanne, with a bit of Roussanne mixed in. The red is fairly priced and consistently excellent, if a bit difficult to find, and the white is also solid but even more rare. But for the money, it’s the Crozes-Hermitage La Rochette that really grabs my attention. Made from a four-hectare, single site in the prized, granite-based soils of Serves, just a couple of miles north of Gervans, it can deliver Hermitage-like intensity and complexity for a fraction of the price. The 2017 is a standout.