Winemaker Notes
Blend: 72% Viognier and 28% Marsanne
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Chester Osborn named this wine after the hermit who gave his name to Hermitage and the hermit crabs that live on the beach in McLaren Vale. Tasted blind it started a discussion about crab-meat soup dumplings at Grand Sichuan in New York, and lobster rolls in Maine. So there is something to the name-a friendly, party style of white that will get any hermit out of his shell-especially if there's crab to match the wine's creamy, lush peachy flavors.
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Wine Spectator
Very pretty, with floral, passion fruit and pineapple aromas and flavors up front, settling into a nice apricot silkiness on the finish.
Full-bodied and flavorful, white Rhône blends originate from France’s Rhône Valley. Today these blends are also becoming popular in other regions. Typically some combination of Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier form the basis of a white Rhône blend with varying degrees of flexibility depending on the exact appellation. Somm Secret—In the Northern Rhône, blends of Marsanne and Roussanne are common but the south retains more variety. Marsanne, Roussanne as well as Bourboulenc, Clairette, Picpoul and Ugni Blanc are typical.
Known for opulent red wines with intense power and concentration, McLaren Vale is home to perhaps the most “classic” style of Australian Shiraz. Vinified on its own or in Rhône Blends, these hot-climate wines are deeply colored and high in extract with signature hints of dark chocolate and licorice. Cabernet Sauvignon is also produced in a similar style.
Whites, often made from Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc tend to be opulent and full of tropical, stone and citrus fruit.