Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage La Guiraude 2022

Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage La Guiraude is the estate’s tête de cuvée, a barrel selection made only in years that throw up wines of unusual intensity.

Alain Graillot arrived in Crozes-Hermitage in the mid-1980s and rapidly became the reference point for the appellation, working the stony terraces of Pont-de-l’Isère with a traditional hand at a time when much of the northern Rhône had gone quiet. The estate is now run by his son Maxime. La Guiraude is not a separate vineyard but a selection of casks from the same fruit and the same winemaking as the classic Crozes; the difference is that the chosen barrels are given longer in wood and longer again in bottle before release. The Graillots are careful to say it is not necessarily a better wine than the standard cuvée, simply a more powerful and spicier one that asks for more cellaring. In practice it is often the deeper and more layered of the two, closer in scale to a small Hermitage.

Give it five years and expect it to hold fifteen. Serve at 16-18°C with roast beef, grilled lamb cutlets or a peppery charcuterie board.

*Every effort is made to ensure the current vintage is accurate; however, variations can occur. If you are after a specific vintage, please contact us prior to ordering.