Hermitage, Le Greal,

A domaine that has been established for over a century, Sorrel started its current incarnation when Henri Sorrel decided to stop selling off the production to make their first estate-bottled vintage in 1979. Marc, Henri's son, started to learn winemaking from his father in 1982 and, with the death of Henri two years later, found himself thrust alone into the world of wine-growing. Marc inherited 2ha from his father and managed to acquire a further 2ha of various parcels in Hermitage and Crozes-Hermitage. Today Marc is one of the small band of individual growers making outstanding wine from the illustrious hill of Hermitage. The style is pure, refined and intense, the emphasis is on vineyard work and good quality fruit without too much interference in the winery. The grapes are de-stalked and fermented in tank for the reds and barrel for the whites, the wines are then matured in small oak casks, a mixtured of new and used varying degrees of new wood. Marc's great, and fully justified, reputation today is based on the outstanding quality of his Hermitages. His flagship wines are Hermitage Les Rocoules, a single vineyard white from vines older than 50 years, and the Hermitage Greal, a blend of old vines that come, predominantly, from the Meal vineyard with up to 10% of the blend including fruit from Greffieux.