2023 Etienne Bécheras – Le Prieuré d’Arras, Crozes-Hermitage Rouge, Northern Rhône, France.
The deep purple/garnet hued 2023 Crozes-Hermitage Rouge by Etienne Bécheras is an absolutely brilliant effort that can be enjoyed now, and can be aged, that shows off delicious classic savory Northern Rhône character and a heightened aromatic profile with a medium body of spicy dark fruits. This excellent pure Syrah, coming from gravelly soils, delivers loads of Umami, meaty notes, crushed violets, peppercorns and a core of boysenberry, damson plum, blueberry, tart cherry and cranberry fruits, along with black olives, sage, tarry black licorice and bacon notes. I don’t feel or taste any oak here and there’s a nice youthful lift of acidity and mineral crunch that adds to the overall thrill here, this is serious, but quaffable stuff that will bring a real smile to Syrah lovers faces. Bécheras lets grapes cold-macerate for three or so days, after which he de-stems everything and the grapes get crushed, the spontaneous fermentation lasts three to four weeks in vats. For his reds, typically Etienne ages in oak casks of varying sizes with mostly all used, including 225L, 400L and 600L barrels, though some non oak vat aging also can be employed before the wine is bottled without fining or filtration. For those that like Alain Graillot and other legends, I think that Bécheras is a producer to follow and this bottling is priced extremely well, if not insanely low for the quality!
The domaine of Etienne Bécheras, like Neal Rosenthal, who imports these wines, says with organic vineyards, principally situated in the Saint-Joseph appellation, along with some well-placed parcels in Crozes-Hermitage, as seen here, Bécheras’s wines are an excellent examples of this mid-section of the Northern Rhône and offer compelling value, which I couldn’t agree more, especially this dynamic Crozes. I understand that Etienne Becheras’s domaine is polycultural, with many other crops, including fruit trees all principally within the confines of the village of Arras which borders and overlooks the Rhône River on the western side on limestone and gravel soils with many very steep plots. Bécheras also has an additional one hectare of vines further south in the village of Mercurol, where a small amount of Crozes Hermitage Rouge is produced, as seen here, from a meager collection of Syrah vines. I’ve not had the Bécheras wines in a while, and this 2023 Crozes really impressed me, making me want to grab some of the higher end Saint-Joseph made here, I honestly had my head turned by this lovely effort and I’ll be looking to get a few more bottles for personal use. Rosenthal has a tidy collection of fabulous Northern Rhône properties to discover with Etienne Bécheras joining a list of favorites that includes Guillaume Gilles, Xavier Gérard, Domaine Lionnet and Bernard Levet, all of which are must try domaines, and I highly recommend chasing them down as fast as possible.
($29 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive