Entrefaux Crozes-Hermitage Rouge 2021

Although the Tardy family has been growing grapes for generations, they only began to estate-bottle in 1979. Today the family domaine is under the care of the always jovial François Tardy, along with his wife Anne. They farm 25 hectares of vines: 21 hectares of Syrah and 4 hectares of Marsanne. The Syrah vineyards are on the pebbly limestone terrace of Les Chassis, thought to be among the best sectors within Crozes-Hermitage. The Tardys harvest their entire crop by hand. The grapes are de-stemmed, fermented with their native yeasts in concrete vats and after fermentation, pressed gently. The wines then age for one year in a combination of cement and oak vats, barrels and cement eggs. François bottles the wines unfined and sometimes unfiltered as well, depending on the vintage. Aromas of black raspberries, cassis, pepper, black olive, a fine base of soil tones, just a touch of oak influence and plenty of upper register smokiness. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied, focused and very nicely balanced, with a fine core of black fruit, good soil undertow, suave tannins and a long, complex and already quite tasty finish.