Hermitage Les Bessards 1999 75cl

Known traditionally as Delas Frères, this company was first founded in 1835 in France's northern Rhône when Philippe Delas and Charles Audibert purchased Maisons Junique. They called their company Audibert and Delas. When Philippe's two sons eventually took over in 1924, they changed the name to Delas Frères. By 1960, the company became one of the top producers of Rhône wines, with vineyard holdings in Côte-Rôtie, Hermitage, Cornas and Condrieu, as well as in Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the south. In 1977, the company merged with Deutz Champagne House and then with Louis Roederer in 1993. They produce two wines in Côte-Rôtie - Seigneur de Maugiron - produced from 40% of their own fruit and 60% of purchased fruit from both Côte Brune (2/3) and Côte Blonde (1/3). In 1997, they began bottling La Landonne which they make from purchased fruit from vines that are 50 years old and up.