“Delas Frères’ François de Tournon bottling of Saint-Joseph comes from terraced vineyards in the heart of the appellation when it was first established in 1969, from the villages of Tournon, Mauves, Vion and Saint-Jean de Muzols. These lie just across the river from the hill of Hermitage. The wine undergoes its malolactic fermentation in casks and is raised in a combination of Burgundy barrels, ranging from one to three years of age, as well as a portion of the cuvée being raised in foudres. The 2020 François de Tournon comes in at 14.5 percent alcohol in this vintage and the bouquet delivers a deep and black fruity blend of cassis, black raspberries, espresso, pepper, grilled meats, coffee bean, stony soil tones and spicy oak. On the palate the wine is fullbodied, chewy and shows lovely mid-palate depth, with a fine base of soil, lovely focus and grip, firm, well-integrated tannins and a long, nascently complex and well-balanced finish. This is more ambitiously handled in the cellars than the Sainte-Épine bottling, but I am not sure if I do not like the more classical treatment of the Sainte-Épine. They are both excellent bottles of young Saint- Joseph and perhaps with sufficient bottle age, the François de Tournon cuvée will end up a bit more impressive, but my heart is drawn to the more classically-raised bottling. 2032-2060.”

“The Sainte-Épine is a single vineyard bottling of Saint-Joseph from Delas, hailing from a hillside vineyard in the commune of Saint-Jean de Muzols, with the soils being stony scree over hard granite. The wine is fermented in cement and raised in oak barrels, with fifty percent new and fifty percent “one wine” casks. The 2020 Sainte-Épine is fairly ripe in this warm vintage, coming in at 14.5 percent octane and delivering a deep and complex bouquet of cassis, dark berries, spitroasted venison, dark soil tones, a touch of coffee grounds, pepper, spicy oak and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is ripe, full-bodied and beautifully balanced, with a nice plushness to the fruit on the attack, a fine core, lovely soil signature and grip, fine-grained tannins and a long, complex and promising finish. This carries its octane seamlessly and does not show even a hint of backend heat. Fine juice. 2030-2060.”

“The Domaine des Tourettes bottling of Hermitage from Maison Delas Frères is made from fruit sourced in the two lieux à dits of les Bessards and les Grandes Vignes. The wine is fermented in cement vats and raised in oak barrels, with one-third of the casks renewed each year. The 2020 version comes in at 14.5 percent octane and delivers a deep and sappy bouquet of cassis, black raspberries, pepper, smoked meats, a beautiful base of soil tones, a touch of dark chocolate, a stylish foundation of nutty oak and plenty of upper register smokiness. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and still quite primary in personality, with bottomless depth at the core, ripe, buried tannins, fine focus and grip and a long, complex and very well-balanced, youthful finish. This has the plushness of fruit of its hot summer, but the wine is fresh and shows no signs of sur maturité. It will need plenty of cellaring time to soften up its undercarriage of tannin. 2036-2085.”

“The 2020 les Bessards bottling from Delas Frères is a stunning young bottle of Hermitage. Like its Hermitage brethren in the cellar this year, it lists at 14.5 percent in the sunny summer of 2020. As Delas owns ten hectares of vines in the lieu à dit of les Bessards, this bottling is a selection of their oldest vine parcels and is only produced in top vintages. The wine offers up a deep and nascently complex nose of black raspberries, sweet cassis, pepper, roasted meats, dark chocolate, lavender, a great foundation of stony soil, cigar smoke and a deft framing of new oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a rock solid core of fruit, superb soil signature, ripe, fine-grained tannins and excellent length and grip on the poised and seamlessly balanced finish. This is an absolutely great bottle of young Hermitage that will be very elegant once it is ready to drink! 2037-2085+.”

“The Hermitage “Ligne de Crête” bottling from Delas Frères hails from the lieu à dit of Les Grands Vignes, which sits up at the summit of the hill of Hermitage. This bottling was first produced by the maison in the 2015 vintage, after extensive renovation work in the terraces here was completed in 2010. The wine is handled a bit differently in the cellars than the other two Delas Hermitage bottlings I tasted, as this wine’s alcoholic fermentation is done in stainless steel tanks and the wine is then racked in barrels for its malolactic fermentation. The percentage of new oak is between thirty and forty percent, depending on the style of a given vintage. The bouquet is deep, complex, and shows a bit more new oaky influence out of the blocks from having had its malo done in cask, with the the nose delivering a blend of cassis, pepper, hung game, dark chocolate, cigar ash, dark soil tones, smoke and a fine framing of cedary oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and already beautifully harmonious on the attack, with a rock solid core of fruit, ripe, 82 buried tannins excellent focus and balance and a long, nascently complex and chewy finish. This wine is a bit more primary than either the les Bessards or Domaine des Tourettes bottlings, probably due to its different cellar regimen, and it will be fascinating to follow the evolution of all three and see which ones age the best over the coming decades. At this early point, the cellar techniques used for the Ligne de Crête have produced the most elegant example of young Hermitage, but I wonder if a bit of soil complexity may have been sacrificed by doing the malo in barrel. 2037-2085.”