Hermitage Bessards, Delas Frères 2023

Not yet bottled, the 2023 Hermitage Les Bessards offers up pure cassis, liquid violets, white pepper, and crushed stone on the nose, showing that classic Bessards burning embers and violet character. It's medium to full-bodied, has a concentrated, layered mouthfeel, ultra-fine tannins, and a great finish. It's still tight and compact, and I suspect the cellar will be your friend.

A haunting nose of raw meat, smoke and licorice. Incredible concentration, the power expertly reined in, with enormous finesse. As it aerates, the beautifully ripe forest berry aromas expand and expand. Then the fun really starts with the almost endless finish. Fundamental stony minerality glides over your palate and off into the distance. From an almost pure granite soil in one of the best sections of the hill of Hermitage. Drink from release.

Elegant, perfumed and racy, the 2023 Hermitage Les Bessards is the highlight of Delas’s range. Wafting from the glass with aromas of rose, lychee, grapefruit and violet, it’s dense and deep, built around perfectly controlled power and a structured core of fruit framed by abundant, sweet tannins that lead to a long, ethereal and precise finish. Combining telluric density with finesse and a notably tensile profile for Hermitage, this is one of the finest renditions of Les Bessards produced at this address.