Hermitage 1996 - Jean-Louis Chave

Hermitage 1996 - Jean-Louis Chave

93/100 Wine Spectator

Tasting Note : "This has mouthwatering cut from the start, with white pepper, tobacco, iron and dried currant notes rippling along, showing still-vivacious acidity underneath and a long, mesquite- and cedar-filled finish that has excellent drive. This is a high-acid vintage and stands a bit apart from the flight stylistically. You could drink it now." JM

For JL Chave's white wine, the grapes are vinified in a combination of 33% French oak barrels and 67% stainless steel vats. The Chave Hermitage Blanc blend is almost always 80% Marsanne and 20% Roussanne.

After fermentation, the wine is racked from its fine lees. The wines are then matured in a combination of new and used French oak barrels, with a small proportion also matured in stainless steel vats for 18 months before bottling. For the JL Chave Hermitage Blanc, production averages around 1,250 cases per year.

Chave owns 14 hectares of vines in Hermitage. 10 hectares are planted with Syrah and are used to produce 2 Hermitage Rouge wines, JL Chave Hermitage and Chave Cuvee Cathelin. The vines are old, with an average age of 50 years, give or take a few years. The remaining 4 hectares of vines are planted with 80% Marsanne and 20% Roussanne. The vines for their white Rhône wine are even older than those for their red wine, being mostly over 60 years old. The key to the beauty and complexity of JL Chave Hermitage comes from their mastery of blending. While for the red wines, the only grape used is Syrah, the wine is made from a blend of fruit sources that come from some of the best parcels in the entire Hermitage appellation.