Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Decanter
The 1989 was an exceptional vintage, slightly overshadowed by the historically great 1990. From 40- to 60-year-old vines from Les Bessards, Le Méal and Les Rocoules, this is lighter in aroma than the 1990, with dark chocolate, cigar box and bonfire smoke, slightly more perfumed than the meaty 1990, showing some lighter, more aerial spice notes. It's medium-bodied with superfine tannins, still so vibrant, with a little blackcurrant note on the long, dry, savoury finish. Highly complex, it's becoming lighter now but is still exceptional. Drinking Window 2019 - 2024
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This fabulous, blockbuster has been totally unevolved since bottling, but at the Jaboulet tasting, it was beginning to reveal some of its formidable potential. A saturated opaque purple color is followed by aromas of cassis, minerals, and hot bricks/wood fire. Super-ripe and full-bodied, with a massive mid-section, teeth-staining extract, and mouth-searing tannin, it is a monster-sized La Chapelle.
-
Wine Spectator
A torrid summer with little rain and good weather during the harvest led to a Chapelle of immense potential. Burly and not as seamless as the '90, with layers of this wine's typical plum, mineral and blackberry notes. While monolithic like a granite block, all the pieces should come together as it ages
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
One of the smallest and most important Syrah regions of northern Rhone, Hermitage is practically one single south-facing slope of crushed granite, thinly covered with varied, yet well-charted soil types. Many climats (well identified parcels) exist within Hermitage and while some smaller producers make single climat Syrahs, some larger ones blend to make one balanced expression of the appellation.
Though the AC regulations allow the addition of up to 15% white grapes to a red Hermitage, in practice it is usually made from Syrah alone. Winemaking is pretty traditional—or you might say historic—with hot fermentations and aging in older barrels of various sizes. The best wines, characterized by deep, dense and sexy flavors of black fruit, cocoa, licorice and tobacco, have massive textures and a solid 10-20 years aging potential.
The region of Hermitage is totally enclosed; the only place it could go really is to literally fall down its own hill into the city of Tain or the Rhone River. Soil erosion is a problem and terraces exist alongside the hill in order to keep the earth in place. Crozes-Hermitage encloses the region entirely to its north and south.
While Hermitage seems synonymous with some of the best Syrah on the planet, actually about one third of the wine produced here comes from white grapes. The full, lush and robust Marsanne or the less common, but almost more charming, Roussanne create wonderful whites in which the best have great potential for aging, like the reds.