Winemaker Notes
Intense golden yellow, with hints of green and gold. The nose is very intense with hot shingles, toffee, very ripe, fruity lemon with floral overtones of acacia and hawthorn. The palate has a well-rounded start and is full bodied, very complex with overtones of ripe fruits, spices and roasting. Very long in the mouth with a fresh final note.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Leading off the single parcel whites, the 2023 Ermitage De L'Orée reveals ripe citrus, orange blossom, crushed stone, and sappy herb notes. It hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, a layered, elegant mouthfeel, bright acidity, and outstanding length. Made from 100% Marsanne, it was aged in 85% demi-muids and foudre (10% new) with 15% in stainless steel for 12 months. Drink 2025-2040.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Ermitage de l'Orée evokes a lovely smoky reduction complemented with aromas of almonds blossoms, pear, spices and ripe white fruits mingled with delicate menthol notes. Medium to full-bodied, ample and satiny, pure and seamless, it has a multidimensional, dense core of fruit, bright acids and a lovely gastronomic bitterness that leads to a saline finish. Crafted from vines planted on the lieu-dit Les Murets in the east part of the hill on clay, granite soils, it will offer a broad drinking window.
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Vinous
The 2023 Ermitage Blanc De L'Orée is gorgeous. Utterly complex and wildly alluring, it kicks off with intense yellow apple, lemon flesh, jasmine, honeysuckle, pear and a flicker of flintstone. Touching the palate with high flavor concentration neatly kept in check by fresh acidity, the refined 2023 is such a precise De L'Orée, adding discreet phenolic bitterness on the expansive finish.
One of the star whites of the Rhône Valley and ubiquitous throughout southern France, historically vignerons have favored Marsanne for its hardy and productive vines. It can make a fruity and delicious single varietal wine as well as a serious, full-bodied version with amazing aging potential. The best examples of Marsanne come from the northern Rhone appellations where it is also blended with Roussanne. Sommelier Secret—Some of the oldest Marsanne vines in the entire world exist not in France but in Australia, in the Victoria region. Settlers planted it in the mid to late 1800s, calling it “white Hermitage.”
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.