Corked - Buena Park

Critic tasting note: (2012 vintage) "There are no cru designated wines in the Rhone, but there are lieux-dits, named places that denote unique vineyard sites and plots within each appellation. Chapoutier owns some of the most famous plots in the Rhône, including 34 hectares within the tiny Hermitage appellation. Labelled Selections Parcellaires, they are simply the best from Chapoutier, of course grown organically and biodynamically. The De L'Orée moniker was the idea of Michel Chapoutier's grandfather, who selected the site at the eastern edge of Hermitage Hill. Orée means edge in French. Orée also references the colour of the wine as or means gold in French. De L'Orée is made from 100 percent marsanne with production rarely over 600 cases. It is always intense as a function of meagre yields and very high ripeness, all run through a barrel fermentation. The site is the alluvial Coteaux des Murets in the eastern part of Hermitage Hill. The nose is a mineral, stony affair with lemons and floral undertones. Intense and persistent, it is aged in new 500 litre demi-muids, but you don't feel it. It is one of the longest-living dry white wines in France. (Anthony Gismondi)." - Gismondi on Wine