Delas Feres Hermitage Rhone Wine

Delas Feres, Hermitage, Rhone wine producer profile with wine tasting notes, wine ratings, a history of the property, information on wine making and terroir, along with wine tasting reviews and images. If you want to read about other important wineries and wine makers from the Rhone valley: Links to all Rhone Valley Wine Producer Profiles

Delas Freres is one of the top producers of Rhone wine in a myriad of appellations. Delas Freres makes outstanding wine from Cote Rotie and Hermitage in the Northern Rhone. The company also produces one of the top value wines from the region with their Cote du Rhone. Delas Freres has one of the longest histories in the appellation. The company was formed in 1835 when Philippe Delas and Charles Audibert agreed to purchase Maisons Junique. The new company changed their name to Audibert and Delas.

Philippe Delas had two sons, Henri and Florentin. Florentin eventually married the daughter of his fathers partner, Charles Audibert. In 1924, the two brothers took over management of the company and altered the name to what is still in use today, Delas Freres.

When the next generation took over management of Delas Freres in 1960, the company had become one of the top producers of Rhone wines with holdings in Cote Rotie, Hermitage, Cornas and Condrieu in the north as well as in the south in Chateauneuf du Pape. In 1977 the company merged with the well known Champagne firm, Deutz. In 1993, Delas Freres was in turn taken over by another Champagne producer, Louis Roederer in 1993.

In Hermitage, Delas Feres makes an outstanding wine from Bessards. While this is one of the top wines in the appellation, the company thinks a better judge of the quality they produce is in the high volume wines. For their Hermitage wine, Bessards, they have been striving to produce a higher quality wine since they released their outstanding 1990 vintage. They stopped using 40 hl barrels and moved to 228 liter casks, of which 8-10% are new. In 1999, they renovated their fermentation cellars with new temperature controlled vats.

Today, the Syrah is completely destemmed, making for a fresher, more pure expression of their vineyards.

Delas Feres has annual sales of almost 1.7 million bottles per year. They produce Hermitage Blanc as well as wines from St. Joseph and Crozes Hermitage. Their fruit comes from a combination of vineyards they own as well as from other growers. In Hermitage, they own 6.h ha of prime vineyard land on Besssards, along with plots in L’Hermite and Les Grandes Vignes. Aside from Bessards, their top red wine, they also produce an affordable wine called, Marquis de la Tourette.

Delas Feres Bessards is a big, ripe, rich, rich, deep, bold powerful wine demanding 15-20 years of bottle age before maturity. Marquis de la Tourette is a lighter style of Hermitage that can be enjoyed in its relative youth.

www.delas.com