One of the great houses in the Northern Rhone, Delas was founded back in 1835. Although the Delas family has been making wine since 1835 in the Rhône Valley, it was not until 1924 that they took the current name of the estate. In 1993, the Rouzaud family, owners of Louis Roederer, acquired both Delas Frères and Champagne Deutz. Since 1996, the Rouzaud family has made important investments in the Saint-Jean-de-Muzols production site near Tournon-sur-Rhône. They have revamped their production facility and cellars to make modernizations. Delas now makes a huge range of wines all the way from the Ventoux in southern France, as well as Chateauneuf du Pape but they are best known for their wines from Cote Rotie and Hermitage.
I was massively impressed with their red and white wine releases across the board. Look to their 2017 Delas ‘Chante-Pedrix’ Cornas (OB, 94) which is rich, and dense, loaded with heady dark fruits and non-fruit nuance. Learn more about these incredible wines at https://www.delas.com/en/ and here are my reviews of the exceptional new Delas wines.
2021 Delas ‘Clos Boucher’ Condrieu- Soft and round on the mouth, the 2021 Delas ’Clos Boucher’ Condrieu offers ripe peaches and white grapefruit flavors alongside serious tension and a smooth mouthfeel on the palate. Finishing long with honeysuckle water, passion fruit and shades of lychee, this generous, well-structured bottling is already drinking marvelously Drink 2024-2032- 93
2020 Delas ‘Francois De Tournon’ Saint-Joseph- The 2020 Delas Saint-Joseph "Francois de Tournon" is a blend of grapes from the terroirs of Vion, Saint-Jean de Muzols, Mauves and Tournon. Iron, bulls blood and iodine flavors combine with tart black raspberry and black cherry notes on the palate, with pencil lead undercurrents. Neatly textured, enjoy now and over the next fifteen years to come. Drink 2024-2039- 93
2020 Delas ‘Chante-Perdrix’ Cornas- The 2020 Delas ‘Chante-Perdrix’ Cornas is inky in the glass, with fantastic concentration and underlying finesse. A bit tight to get going, this delivers copious dark fruit flavors alongside violets, graphite, tar and creme de cassis notes with dark chocolate shavings on the palate. Fresh and vibrant, this is going to age gracefully. Drink 2024-2039- 94
2020 Delas ‘La Landonne’ Cote-Rotie- Coming from this hallowed site, the 2020 Delas ‘La Landonne’ Cote-Rotie was stored in used French oak for 14 months before bottling. The nose is a literal cornocpiia of aromatics from white pepper dusted bacon to beautiful black rose petals, anise, exotic spices and suggestions of Earl Grey tea alongside dense dark fruits. The palate is plush and soft with serious verve and glorious length. This will easily go for another twenty years to come. Give this total stunner an hour in the decanter if consuming now. Drink 2024-2044- 96
2020 Delas ‘Les Bessards’ Hermitage- The stunning 2020 Delas ‘Les Bessards’ Hermitage is a collection of the oldest sites from the ‘Les Bessards’ as this is limited to a maximum of six thousand bottles each year. This beauty shows off a voluptuous mouthfeel with serious tension and minerality. Layers of boysenberry and coffee grounds ingle well with iodine, wet granite and shades of creme de violette on the palate. Highly enjoyable in its heady youth, give this some time in the decanter if consuming young. Drink 2024-2040- 95
2020 Delas ‘Les Grandes Vignes’ Hermitage- This incredible 2020 Hermitage comes from a plot of land at the top of the Hermitage hillside, set at more than 300 meters. Once on the nose this takes on layers of dark currants and red peppercorns alongside wet stone and suggestions of Asian spices. The palate is soft and refined as soft tannins frame a beautiful core of black fruit flavors alongside black licorice, white pepper and salty minerals. Enjoy this head-turning wine now and over the next fifteen years to come. Drink 2024-2040- 95