2001 Hermitage Les Bessards
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Tasting notes
In contrast to the Marquise de la Tourette bottling, the firmly structured 2001 Hermitage Les Bessards still has several years of life ahead of it. Barely bricking, it reveals notes of cassis and dried cherries, ample weight and richness on the palate, with a long, silky finish.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jeb Dunnuck
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Relatively deep crimson. Single vineyard. Very warm, complete, well integrated nose with some sweetness. A certain dustiness – very savoury and dry tannins on the finish. The palate needs time but the nose is already quite developed. Real meat and sap – almost leathery. Could certainly enjoy this with roast beef but really needs time. 13% (JR)
Dark red. Knockout multidimensional nose is at once pungent and refined, offering notes of redcurrant, wild strawberry, woodsmoke, gunflint, molasses and minerals. Wonderfully suave and elegant but also amazingly penetrating and gripping, with sharply etched flavors of redcurrant and minerals and strong, peppery soil tones. This wine clings so stubbornly to the palate that it's literally hard to spit. A young Hermitage of great class and complexity.
A difficult vintage that yielded a lot of fresh, mid-weight wines with bright acidity, the 2001 Hermitage les Bessards has a clean, classic feel in its wood smoke, black fruits, cured meats and dried-herb bouquet. Full-bodied, rich and concentrated, with both texture and freshness, it's fully mature but will hold nicely through at least 2025. eRobertParker.com.September, 2015