2009 Domaine Fond Croze Cuvee Romanaise Cotes du Rhone Villages

Last of the 2009 Rhones. Not long after Robert Parker began his assessment of 2009 Rhone in October 2010, he was commending winelovers to buy up. "This is the type of vintage consumers will love as the wines are fruit-forward, full-bodied, relatively high in alcohol with low acidity and sweet, well-integrated tannins". In this final shipment, traversing a range of terroirs the quality and value is obvious. They are wines that put Australian Grenache blends back in their place as the antecedents of these Southern Rhone archetypes. Now the treasure trove is drying up. One proviso on Parker's comments below: many of these wines were tasted before bottling. In this state, he tends to underrate wines initially, only to add points after they spend time in the bottle. The wines have rested since shipping and are now blossoming beautifully.

Tasting note: Opaque dark purple crimson red colour with deep crimson red hue. The nose exhibits scents of black cherry, dark raspberry and a touch of liquorice with some spice emerging and a meaty overtone. The palate displays impressive weight and richness with flavours of liquorice, black raspberry and spice followed by some dried meat and pepper on the finish. Excellent concentration and depth. Fine grained, well integrated and balanced tannin structure. Long aftertaste of black raspberry, liquorice and meaty blackpepper. Cellar 3-4 years (2015-2016) Alc 14.5%

Other Reviews…. The brilliant laboratory of Philippe Cambie has its group of consultants working at this domaine, which appears to be a noteworthy new producer to add to the bevy of good bargain-priced wines from the southern Rhone... Slightly better is the 2009 Cotes du Rhone-Villages Romanaise, a blend of 70% Grenache and 30% Syrah. It exhibits a deeper purple color as well as additional notes of graphite, blueberries, blackberries, lavender and licorice. This elegant, medium to full-bodied, pure, well-balanced effort should drink well for 4-5 years. 89-91 points
Robert Parker – The Wine Advocate