96

Josh Raynolds

Vinous

Inky ruby. A highly aromatic bouquet evokes candied black and blue fruits, along with complicating suggestions of smoky minerals, candied flowers, olive and vanilla. Deep, chewy and expansive in the mouth, offering impressively concentrated dark berry liqueur, fruitcake and salty olive flavors that are complicated by a hint of smoky minerality and a building floral pastille note. Distinctly rich and powerful but surprisingly graceful as well, showing noteworthy clarity and mineral-driven thrust on the strikingly long finish. 03/2018

99+

Joe Czerwinski

Robert Parker/Wine Advocate

With approximately 500 cases produced, the 2015 Hermitage les Bessards is probably among the most available of the vintage's top wines. Jump on it if your means allow, as I suspect this wine will be a candidate for perfection once it sheds some tannin. It's perfumed on the nose, concentrated on the palate and amazingly long yet also elegant from start to finish. And amid the power, oak and massive cassis and blackberry fruit, it also manages to include hints of crushed stone evocative of its granitic terroir. It's breathtaking stuff, virtually guaranteed to bring a smile to any wine lover's face. 12/2017

100

Jeb Dunnuck

Jeb Dunnuck

The top cuvée from Delas is the 2015 Hermitage Les Bessards, and it's always 100% Syrah from the steep, broken granite soils of the Bessards lieu-dit. Aged 18 months in 30% new barrels, its purple/plum color is followed by a huge nose of blackcurrants, graphite, toasted spice, crushed rocks and saddle leather. Powerful, massively concentrated, and tannic, it has a broad, expansive, heavenly texture, a thick mid-palate (you could almost use a fork for this beauty), and a great finish. Despite the richness level, it stays balanced and graceful on the palate, and is never over the top or heavy. It's a perfect Hermitage that will start to shine with 4-5 years of bottle age and keep for three decades or more. Bravo! 01/2018

94

James Suckling

James Suckling

The granitic Bessards character is strong here with dark slate and dark, lustrous blackberry and plum fruits on the nose. The palate has a swathe of fine, long and powerful, yet velvety, tannins. Oak is nicely integrated. Very fresh. A great wine. Drink from 2020. 07/2017