Winemaker Notes
Nestled on Hermitage hill, the Maison Bleue – meaning “blue house” in French – is a small stone house with blue shutters that provides a shaded place to rest for winegrowers and horses. The 40- to 60-year-old Syrah vines are located primarily on the eastern side of Hermitage in alluvial soils with an exposure to the South. The vines on a flatter slope are cordon trained while the vines on terraced 30-degree slopes are goblet trained. The organic grapes are hand-harvested with an initial hand sorting in the vineyard. The grapes are completely destemmed. The wine undergoes three weeks of maceration with daily pump overs. It is aged for 12 months in French oak barrels – 15% of which are new. Potential to age up to 20 years.
Organically grown
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A rich and sophisticated Hermitage with delicate pepper and forest berry aromas that pull you inexorably into this beautiful wine. The fine tannins support the ample body, gently building to a crescendo at the long, plush finish. From organically grown grapes. Drinkable now, but best from 2025.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Hermitage La Maison Bleue comes from the eastern side of the hill (more limestone and loess soils). It has a vibrant, medium-bodied, red-fruited profile as well as medium-bodied richness, supple, elegant tannins, and a seamless mouthfeel, with some classic Hermitage leather, pepper, and rose petal nuances. I love its overall balance, and this is an Hermitage that will hit prime time with just 2-4 years of bottle age and evolve nicely over the following decade.
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.