Barruol Lynch
Over forty years of doing business in France and Italy have given Kermit Lynch a level of expertise that few in the wine industry can boast. Countless hours with growers in some of the most famous vineyards and cellars of Europe have offered more than just a casual look at what it takes to be a great grower, let alone a great winemaker. Kermit Lynch was the first to champion the benefits of unfined and unfiltered wines, long before they had become fashionable. This belief is really a matter of taste, and the proof has always been in the glass, offering a purer expression of fruit and an unadulterated reflection of the terroir. Kermit’s conviction has been so strong over the years that he has been able to persuade even the most hard-headed vignerons to test his theories.
Long-term relationships with vignerons in every major wine growing region offer a tremendous array of opportunities. Every year, Kermit enjoys a creative collaboration with some growers to find the best of their selections. Together, they work towards creating a final blend that showcases the region in all its glory at a price point that is difficult to match.
Louis Barruol is an indefatigable force in the Rhône. He is the fourteenth generation in his family to be making wine at his sixteenth-century domaine in Gigondas. On what was once the site of a Roman villa, Louis’ cellars show spectacular remains of old, Roman vinification vats carved into the limestone.
While based in the southern Rhône, Louis is incredibly passionate and knowledgeable about the great Syrahs grown farther north—a passion he discovered he shares with Kermit, who over the decades has worked with some of Louis' northern Rhône idols including Marius Gentaz, Raymond Trollat, and Auguste Clape. In an homage to these legendary vignerons and the increasingly rare style of traditional winemaking they practiced, Louis became a micro-négociant, working closely with top growers in the northern Rhône who still work with Sérine, an ancient clone of Syrah known for its aromatic finesse. Producing only a few precious barrels of each cuvée, Louis is helping to save the authenticity and the identity of many great old Côte Rôtie parcels, as well as those of Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, and occasionally Saint-Joseph, by keeping them out of the hands of the large, corporate négociants in the area.
Together, he and Kermit blend our northern Rhône wines from a selection of Louis’ purchased fruit. Louis selects the best parcels he can find based on his intimate knowledge of the region’s terroirs, and upon bringing the grapes in his cellar gives them the traditional treatment of spontaneous fermentation without destemming, aging in barrel, and bottling without filtration. Once a year, Kermit shows up and either chooses to have a cuvée bottled unfiltered, or he blends to find the assemblage that satisfies his aesthetic criteria.
Long-term relationships with vignerons in every major wine growing region offer a tremendous array of opportunities. Every year, Kermit enjoys a creative collaboration with some growers to find the best of their selections. Together, they work towards creating a final blend that showcases the region in all its glory at a price point that is difficult to match.
Louis Barruol is an indefatigable force in the Rhône. He is the fourteenth generation in his family to be making wine at his sixteenth-century domaine in Gigondas. On what was once the site of a Roman villa, Louis’ cellars show spectacular remains of old, Roman vinification vats carved into the limestone.
While based in the southern Rhône, Louis is incredibly passionate and knowledgeable about the great Syrahs grown farther north—a passion he discovered he shares with Kermit, who over the decades has worked with some of Louis' northern Rhône idols including Marius Gentaz, Raymond Trollat, and Auguste Clape. In an homage to these legendary vignerons and the increasingly rare style of traditional winemaking they practiced, Louis became a micro-négociant, working closely with top growers in the northern Rhône who still work with Sérine, an ancient clone of Syrah known for its aromatic finesse. Producing only a few precious barrels of each cuvée, Louis is helping to save the authenticity and the identity of many great old Côte Rôtie parcels, as well as those of Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, and occasionally Saint-Joseph, by keeping them out of the hands of the large, corporate négociants in the area.
Together, he and Kermit blend our northern Rhône wines from a selection of Louis’ purchased fruit. Louis selects the best parcels he can find based on his intimate knowledge of the region’s terroirs, and upon bringing the grapes in his cellar gives them the traditional treatment of spontaneous fermentation without destemming, aging in barrel, and bottling without filtration. Once a year, Kermit shows up and either chooses to have a cuvée bottled unfiltered, or he blends to find the assemblage that satisfies his aesthetic criteria.
Technical Information
Wine | Blend | Vine Age | Soil Type | Vineyard Area* |
---|---|---|---|---|
Crozes-Hermitage “Les Tiercerolles” |
Syrah | 30 - 50 years | Granite | N/A |
Crozes-Hermitage Les Batits |
Syrah | 40 - 50 years | Sandy loam | N/A |
Crozes-Hermitage Tenay |
Syrah | 30-50 years | Granite | N/A |
Crozes-Hermitage Goutay |
Syrah | Planted in 1980 | Granite | N/A |
Crozes-Hermitage Habrard |
Syrah | 50 years average | Granite | N/A |
Crozes-Hermitage Gervans |
Syrah | N/A | ||
Côte Rôtie “Les Roses” |
Syrah | 30 - 50 years | Schist | N/A |
Côte Rôtie “La Boisselée” |
Syrah | 30 - 50 years | Schist | N/A |
Côte Rôtie “La Dorée” |
Syrah | 30 - 50 years | Schist | N/A |
Côte Rôtie La Viaillère |
Syrah | 30-50 years | Schist | N/A |
Côte Rôtie Nève |
Syrah | 30 years | Schist | N/A |
Côte Rôtie Besset |
Syrah | 40 years | Mica Schist | N/A |
Côte Rôtie Fongeant |
Syrah | N/A | ||
Hermitage Blanc La Pierrelle |
Marsanne | 80 years | Limestone | N/A |
Hermitage La Pierrelle |
Syrah | 30 - 50 years | Granite | N/A |
* "ha" = hectares; one hectare equals roughly two and a half acres |
VITICULTURE / VINIFICATION
• Maceration lasts 2 or 3 weeks
• Fermentation takes place in cement tank
• Wines are aged on average for 15 months in Burgundy barrels
• New barrels are introduced to rotation occasionally as needed, with the goal of minimizing new oak influence
• Wines are not fined or filtered
Crozes-Hermitage “Tiercerolles”
• “Tiercerolles” is an old French word for a barrel
• 2020: a blend of three different lieux-dits: 45% Mercurol, 45% Martinelle, 10% Habrard
• 2017 and 2018: a blend of several lieux-dits including Gervans, Tenay, Mercurol, Habrard, and Batits
• 2016: a blend of 12 barrels: 4 from Besset, 2 from Batits, 3 from Habrard, 3 from Mercurol
Côte Rôtie “Les Roses”
• 2020: a blend of three different lieux-dits: 75% Rosier, 20% • Grand Vigne, 5% Tilleuil
• 2017: a blend of 3 barrels: 1 from Fongeant, 2 from Champin
• 2010 : a blend of the Buffin, Brosse-Champin, and Fongeant
• 2009: a blend of the lieux-dits Fongeant and Rozier
Côte Rôtie “La Boisselée”
• 2019: 3 barrels from Grande Vigne, 3 from Bercheries, 3 from Besset 3 from Tilleul
• 2018: 1 barrel from La Viaillère, 2 from Le Plomb, 2 from Besset, 2 from Champin, 1 from Fongeant, 1 from Bodin
• 2017: 1 barrel from La Viaillère, 2 from Le Plomb, 2 from Besset
• 2016: 2 barrels from La Viaillère, 2 from Fongeant, 1 from Besset, 3 from Semons, 1 from Le Plomb, 3 from Nève
• 2015: 2 barrels from from La Viaillère, 2 from Fongeant
• 2014: 2 barrels from from Besset, 2 from Semons, and 1 from Le Plomb
• 2013: a blend of Buffin, Bodin, and La Viaillère
• 2010: a blend of Le Plomb, Nève, La Viaillère, and Champin
• 2009: a blend of the Labrosses and Champin
Côte Rôtie “La Dorée”
• 2017: sourced from lieux-dits Nève and Semons
• 2011: sourced from lieu-dit Le Plomb
• 2009: a blend of lieux-dits Viaillère and Champin
Hermitage Blanc La Pierrelle
• Fermented in Burgundian barrels
• Wine is not racked, fined, or filtered before bottling
Hermitage Rouge La Pierrelle
• La Pierrelle is a lieu-dit at the top of the hill of Hermitage, facing south-southwest, with a granite soil and galet stones
• The name, Pierrelle, refers to stones (pierre in French), and the stoney nature of the vineyard
General Information
- Country
- France
- Region
- Northern Rhône
- Appellation(s)
- Côte Rôtie, Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage
- Producer
- Louis Barruol
- Farming
- Lutte Raisonnée