Hermitage Colombier (Domaine du) 2008

Lot presentation

Hermitage Colombier (Domaine du) 2008

The wine

A family-run estate managed by David and Florent Viale, the vines belonging to Domaine du Colombier are spread across a little less than 20 hectares within appellations such as Hermitage and Crozes-Hermitage. This rare gem comes from the former: a white Hermitage. It is worth mentioning that mainly reds are produced here. The wine is made entirely from Marsanne grapes, grown on vines with a respectable age of 100 years, and which draw their nutrients from deep in the clay and limestone soils. Its yields do not exceed 40hl per hectare, so quantities are limited (around 100 bottles).
In the cellar, vinification involves direct pressing as well as entonnage (putting the wine into the barrels) before both alcoholic and malolactic fermentation. The wine then ages in demi-muid (600-litre) oak barrels for a year and a half.
We would recommend waiting a few years before opening this incredible wine, packed full of character and bursting with notes of well-ripened yellow fruits, dried fruits and vanilla. The palate is full-bodied, with a lovely unctuousness, eventually lingering on a distinguished bitter note.

Spread over 16 hectares in the Hermitage and Crozes-Hermitage appellations, Domaine du Colombier is a family property run by David and Florent Viale. Syrah is the variety of choice with 13 hectares planted to produce the red Crozes-Hermitages. The white Crozes-Hermitages is made from the 1.4 hecatres of Marsanne vines. 2 parcels in the Beaumes and Les Diognières lieux-dits allows the domain to produce AOC Hermitage as well. David et Florent arrived in the 1990s and implemented big changes at the domaine. They made the decision to sell the wines under the domaine's name rather than the negociant's, a decision that made these wines become hugely popular and lauded by critics such as Robert Parker.