Domaine des Hauts Châssis Crozes Hermitage ‘Les Galets’ 2021

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

Grape variety : 100% Syrah.

Appellation : AOP Crozes-Hermitage. The Hauts Châssis estate is in the middle of the locality called “Les Hauts Châssis” in the south of the Crozes Hermitage appellation area.

Colour : Red

Terroir : Its soils have big stones., Galets, which absorb the heat all day long and give it off again at night. Big round stones of Alpine diluvium to a depth of 50 to 80 cm with coarse sand and red clay.

Vine age : 20 – 40 years. Yielding 35HL/ha = Very Low.

Winemaking process : 3 to 4-day cold pre-fermentation maceration (6°C), alcoholic fermentation at 30°-32°C with daily pumping over and crushing, 12 to 20-day hot maceration (30°C)  then hot running off in barrels, malolactic fermentation in barrels, then 12-month maturing in barrels before bottling at the following autumn.

About Domaine des Hauts Châssis

Domaine des Hauts Chassis is located in the south of the Crozes-Hermitage appellation. The estate is 17 hectares spread across Crozes, Condrieu, Hermitage, St Peray and St Joseph. Franck Faugier took over the family estate and has been vinifying since 2003.

He is the fourth generation of his family to tend to their vines in the commune of La Roche-de-Glun in Crozes-Hermitage, however all the previous generation sold their grapes to either Paul Jaboulet Aîne or the Tain Cooperative. All of Franck’s 12 hectares of vineyards are on the stony soils of Les Chassis, one of the most prized plots of land in all of Crozes-Hermitage.

In the Vineyard

Having been growers for so many generations the Domaine has a collection of excellent vineyards and Lieux-Dits in Crozes-Hermitage and Saint-Joseph.

“From the vine to the cellar, it is the respect of the fruit and of the vine that we support : work of the ground, supervised control, grape harvest in green, manual stripping, manual grape harvest, picking off, treading during the wine making, and a controlled maturing in order to offer you all the pleasure of the fruit and the complexity of the Syrah.”

The vineyard shot of the Les Chassis vineyard below shows just how many large pebbles, Galets, cover the southern sites of Crozes-Hermitage.

In the Winery

3 to 4-day cold pre-fermentation maceration (6°C), alcoholic fermentation at 30°-32°C with daily pumping over and crushing, 12 to 20-day hot maceration (30°C)  then hot running off in barrels, malolactic fermentation in barrels, then 12-month maturing in barrels before bottling at the following autumn.

Where in the World are They?

Crozes-Hermitage rest in the Northern Rhône above Hermitage with additional holdings in Saint-Jospeh.