Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is so perfumed with strawberry, spices, meat and light earth. Then changes to cloves, dried flowers such as violets, and perfume. Full body with super-fine tannins, almond, berry, light spice and hints of lightly grilled meat. A wonderful, satisfying wine that's all about balance and refinement.
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Wine Spectator
Sleek and primal now, with a beam of glistening raspberry and red currant fruit running over well integrated iron, black tea and roasted vanilla bean notes. Stays well-focused on the finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2007 Hermitage La Chapelle is another mature, charming, utterly delicious vintage for this cuvée, although it’s certain far behind the truly great examples. Ruby/plum-hued, with classic red and black fruits, dried herbs, cured meats, and hints of soy and licorice, it's mid-weight and medium-bodied, with good sweetness of fruit yet a subtle hole in its mid-palate. It's best enjoyed over the coming 7-8 years or so. Best After 2022
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Wine Enthusiast
If sticker shock doesn't send you running for the hills, this wine will be more than worth a go. Boldand rubbery now, with aromas of cedary spice, pepper and rich black fruits, this is a full, slightly fierce wine with enough creaminess and depth to bring it full circle. Roasted berry, herbs, spice and leather are all part of the picture. Needs several more years to flesh out
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2007 Hermitage La Chapelle is a pretty, dark ruby/plum-colored effort displaying aromas of camphor, loamy soil, pepper, herbs and red and black fruits. Medium to full-bodied, soft, round and expansive, it is an endearing Hermitage to enjoy over the next decade. The dramatic differences between the 2007 and 2009 are remarkable when these two wines are tasted side by side.
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.