Alain Graillot : Crozes-Hermitage "La Guiraude" 2022

A sanguine version, with roasted meat notes atop plum reduction sauce and raspberry. Dusty earth and dried flowers chime in, with beautiful lavender details toward the saline, high-energy finish, which stretches way out, marked by graphite and smoke. Drink now through 2029. 1,200 cases made, 120 cases imported.

The 2022 Crozes-Hermitage La Guiraude is too rustic for my taste, opening with marked leather and barnyard subtleties. Time in the glass adds layers of cedar, ripe black fruit and graphite tones. Firmly structured by astringent tannins, the full-bodied 2022 lacks balance.