Wine Cellar

Wine:  Bila Haut 'VIT' Roussillon

65% Grenache from 70 year old vines and 35% Syrah. Chapoutiers top wine from Latour de France meaning 'From the inner Earth' Charges Apply, Landing May 2013

Wine:  Bila Haut 'VIT' Roussillon

Wine:  Chateauneuf du Pape Barbe Rac

Wine:  Chateauneuf du Pape Croix de Bois

The 2010 Chateauneuf du Pape Croix de Bois displays more pepper, wet stone, licorice, foresty and earthy characteristics accompanied by sweet black currant and black raspberry fruit. Full-bodied and rich, it plays it tighter to the vest than the more open-knit 2009. It should drink well for 15+ years. Charges Apply, Landing May 2013

Drinking period: 2011-2026

Wine:  Chateauneuf du Pape Croix de Bois

Wine:  Condrieu Coteaux de Chery

One of the greatest Condrieus I have ever tasted (of course, it comes from a top site) is the 2010 Condrieu Coteaux du Chery, which Chapoutier ages in 600-liter demi-muids. Truly great stuff, with loads of peach, apricot, crushed rock, citrus oil and honeysuckle notes, the wine is full-bodied, with great acidity and tremendous aromatics. Quite a stunner. Anticipated maturity: now-2016. Charges Apply, Landing May 2013

Drinking period: 2011-2016

Wine:  Condrieu Coteaux de Chery

From a new parcel Chapoutier recently purchased, the 2011 Condrieu Coteaux du Chery reveals just how fabulous this terroir can be. My point of reference for Chery is undeniably Andre Perret’s single vineyard bottling from this site, but Chapoutier’s Condrieu is remarkable as well. Honeysuckle, peach and apricot marmalade notes interwoven with hints of rose petal and stone emerge from this full-bodied, unctuously textured, gorgeous white wine with a perfume that could fill a small room. Drink it over the next several years. The other cuvees, especially the Hermitages, will evolve for 30-50 years.

Wine:  Cote Rotie La Mordoree

Nearly as good as the 2009, the 2010 Cote Rotie La Mordoree has a dense ruby/purple color along with notes of licorice, roasted herbs, forest floor graphite, black currants and sweet cherries. It is medium to full-bodied, not as intense as the Hermitages, St-Joseph or Crozes, but still impressive. It should drink well for 30+ years, given how slow some of the great vintages made in the 1990s are evolving. There are four separate cuvees of Hermitage, all of them magnificent wines that will have 30 or more years of aging potential, and well in excess of 50 years in the case of L’Ermite and Pavillon. Charges Apply, Landing May 2013

Wine:  Cote Rotie La Mordoree

The 2011 Cote Rotie La Mordoree is an outstanding success in this more challenging vintage for Cote Rotie. Raspberry, spring flowers, licorice, forest floor and underbrush notes emerge from this attractive, medium-bodied, elegant, delicious Cote Rotie. It should be consumed during its first decade of life.

Wine:  Crozes Hermitage Les Varonniers

One of the finest wines of the appellation is the 2010 Crozes-Hermitage Les Varonnieres. Oodles of tapenade, black truffle, asphalt, blackberry and subtle barbecue smoke are all present in this opaque purple wine, which has great fruit, a full-bodied mouthfeel and a huge finish. Drink it over the next 20-30 years. Charges Apply, Landing May 2013

Drinking period: 2011-2041

Wine:  Crozes Hermitage Les Varonniers

The dense purple-colored 2011 Crozes-Hermitage Les Varonnieres offers notes of black olives, tapenade, gun flint, smoky barbecue, charcuterie and red meats. Full-bodied, soft and round, it is ideal for drinking over the next 12-15 years

Wine:  Ermitage Le Greffieux Rouge

The dense purple 2010 Ermitage Les Greffieux displays sweet, charcoal-infused creme de cassis fruit, spring flowers, blueberries and blackberries as well as a full-bodied, layered mouthfeel. Intense and pure, it should drink well for 30+ years. Charges Apply, Landing May 2013

Drinking period: 2011-2041

Wine:  Ermitage Le Greffieux Rouge

As for the four cuvees of single vineyard Hermitage, the 2011 Ermitage Les Greffieux offers notes of crushed berry fruit, wet pebble/stone, deep, full-bodied flavors, moderate tannin, and a forward, full-bodied, lush style.

Wine:  Ermitage Le Meal Blanc

The 2010 Ermitage Le Meal Blanc, which comes from a warmer site, displays more tropical fruit, with loads of red currants intermixed with mango, orange marmalade, and exotic Asian scents. Dense, full-bodied, intense and rich, this is the most voluptuous and opulent of the blockbuster selections parcellaires whites of 2010. It should drink well for 30-35 years. Charges Apply, Landing May 2013

Wine:  Ermitage Le Meal Blanc

The more flamboyant, California-styled 2011 Ermitage Le Meal Blanc is from a warmer site with a more southerly exposure. It offers up notes of wet rocks, tangerines, peaches and a striking scent reminiscent of the famous New Orleans dish, bananas Foster. I know that sounds weird, but that’s what it smelled like when I first put my nose in the glass. This exuberant, exotic, ostentatious white Hermitage may be controversial, but for me, it was over-the-top perfection.

Wine:  Ermitage Le Meal Rouge

The 2011 Ermitage Le Meal exhibits aromas and flavors of graphite, beef blood/steak tartare, blackberry liqueur, acacia flowers and scorched earth. It is full-bodied, dense and concentrated.

Wine:  Ermitage Le Oree Blanc

There are 716 cases of the 2010 Ermitage de l’Oree. I have been following this cuvee since its debut vintage and this 100% Marsanne possesses more richness than most Burgundy Montrachets. Although aged in 100% new, 500-liter demi-muids, the wine reveals no evidence of oak. Honeysuckle, caramelized citrus, white peach, quince and white currant characteristics are viscous and full-bodied, yet the wine possesses striking precision and laser-like focus. This monumental effort is the most opulent and richest of all Chapoutier’s dry whites in 2010

Drinking period: 2011-2026

Wine:  Ermitage Le Oree Blanc

The 2011 Ermitage Cuvee de l’Oree comes from a lieu-dit known as Les Murets planted with 80- to 90-year-old Marsanne vines. The bouquet offers up scents of Asian spices, lychee nuts, white currant liqueur and peach and apricot marmalade. This stunning, honeyed, flamboyant white is perfection in a glass. Drink it over the next half century.

Wine:  Ermitage Le Pavillon Rouge

Tasting like the concentrated blood from an aged and grilled strip steak, the 2010 Ermitage Le Pavillon boasts a black/purple color along with creme de cassis, camphor, pen ink, white flower and lead pencil shaving characteristics in its massive, full-bodied personality. It almost defies description because of its ethereal concentration and off-the-charts extract levels. This is not for the faint of heart, or those who lack patience, as it will require 10-15 years of bottle age, and, as previously stated, will keep for 50 or more. There are just over 1,000 cases of the 2010 Le Pavillon, another perfect wine in the constellation of profound wines produced by Michel Chapoutier.

Drinking period: 2021-2121

Wine:  Ermitage Le Pavillon Rouge

Flirting with perfection, the 2011 Ermitage Le Pavillon is the most remarkable of these four cuvees. Intense blackberry liqueur notes intermixed with notions of creme de cassis, charcoal, licorice and black truffles are followed by a monumentally sized wine with colossal concentration. It is another masterpiece of richness, power, symmetry and complexity. Give it 3-5 years of cellaring and drink it over the following 25-30 years.

Wine:  Ermitage L'Ermite Blanc

The 2010 Ermitage l’Ermite Blanc, which comes from pure granite soils, is a perfect wine. This awesome white, made from pre-phylloxera vines that are not grafted onto American root stocks, offers notes of acacia flowers, orange and nectarine oils, a liquid rock-like component and a full-bodied, multidimensional and multilayered finish. As the great French wine critic Michel Bettane said about l’Ermite in many different vintages, it is “greater than the greatest Montrachet.” This is a 50- to 75-year white wine.

Drinking period: 2011-2086

Wine:  Ermitage L'Ermite Blanc

The rigorous, more austere 2011 Ermitage l’Ermite Blanc boasts an amazing terroir character with a backward style. A masterpiece in the making, it displays crystalline purity along with extraordinary notes of acacia flowers, quince, honey, wet rocks and candle wax. This amazing, full-bodied, concentrated white is the essence of a single vineyard as well as of Marsanne.

Wine:  Ermitage L'Ermite Rouge

The 2010 Ermitage l’Ermite (454 cases produced) is another perfect wine. Completely different than Le Pavillon, l’Ermite is always slightly more austere. It comes from a 7.5-acre parcel of sandy, granitic soils at the top of the Hill of Hermitage that produces both red and white compelling Hermitages, somewhat unusual in this tiny appellation. The black/purple-colored 2010 l’Ermite exhibits a tight, more mineral-dominated set of aromatics offering up hints of blue and black fruits, charcoal, steak tartare and an unmistakable floral note. This full-bodied, more austere and tannic effort reveals extraordinary weight, palate penetration and purity. It represents the concentrated essence of a specific site as well as the Syrah grape planted in this magical appellation. Forgot it for 10-15 years, possibly two decades, and drink it over the following 50-75 years.

Drinking period: 2021+

Wine:  Ermitage L'Ermite Rouge

The opaque black/purple-tinged 2011 Ermitage l’Ermite offers a combination of crushed stones, creme de cassis, blackberry liqueur, barbecue smoke and roasted meats. It is a powerful, slightly austere, backward effort that will need 5-6 years of bottle age after its release next year. It may turn out to be a 30-50-year wine in a vintage that made relatively forward wines. In that sense, it is an outlier in this vintage.

Wine:  Hermitage Vin de Paille 375ml

Because of a change in French laws, the 2010 Ermitage Vin de Paille will be the last sweet wine made by Chapoutier. Made from 100% Marsanne, this perfect wine exhibits an incredible perfume of truffles, apricot jam and caramelized tangerines. This noble, surgically precise classic can be drunk now or cellared for over 100 years. It is a remarkable wine, and it’s a shame to see this cuvee discontinued. For the technical minded, this wine has 120 grams of residual sugar.

Drinking period: 2011-2011

Wine:  Roussillon Rectificando

Wine:  St Joseph Les Clos

A new cuvee is the 2011 St.-Joseph Le Clos. A truly magnificent wine, it ranks alongside the Vignes de l’Hospice of Marcel and Philippe Guigal as well as the St.-Josephs from Delas and J. L. Chave. An inky/purple color is followed by hints of graphite, blackberries, blueberries and smoke in this gorgeously proportioned, full-bodied, multidimensional wine. It should drink well for 15+ years.

Wine:  St Joseph Les Granits Blanc

2 ha, 100% Marsanne. This wine comes from a small selection of very old Marsanne vines planted on steep granitic slopes in the South of Tournon. The granitic soil also contains stones and gravels. A potential sleeper selection in every great year for Chapoutier, the single-vineyard selection 2010 St.-Joseph Les Granits Blanc comes from the granite hillsides of this appellation, not far from the one-horse village of Mauves. Dense, concentrated quince, nectarine and honeysuckle jump from the glass of this full-bodied wine, which has zesty acidity, stunning purity and a long finish. Drink it over the next 10-12 years. Charges Apply, Landing May 2013

Drinking period: 2011-2023

Wine:  St Joseph Les Granits Blanc

The brilliant 2011 St.-Joseph Les Granits Blanc offers up scents of caramelized citrus, orange blossoms and honeysuckle. It is full-bodied with loads of fruit, and as of now, the telltale minerality has not yet penetrated the lavish fruit notes.

Wine:  St Joseph Les Granits Rouge

2.5 ha, 100% Syrah. This is a selection of Chapoutier’s oldest Syrah vines planted in the birthplace of the Saint-Joseph appellation. Here the very poor, very stony granite soil (suggested by the name) is vital in restraining excessive vigour that can adversely affect the quality of less well-favoured Saint-Joseph vines. The appropriately named 2010 St.-Joseph Les Granits has an opaque purple color and gorgeous, dense notes of sweet black cherries with hints of crushed rock, graphite, pen ink and blackberry liqueur. The granite mineral terroir characteristics come through in this wine, which is full and rich. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2030+. Charges Apply, Landing May 2013

Drinking period: 2014-2030

Wine:  St Joseph Les Granits Rouge

More flint, barbecue smoke, crushed rock, spring flower, blueberry and black raspberry characteristics are present in the full-bodied 2011 St.-Joseph Les Granits. Uncommonly fleshy and seductive, it should drink nicely for a decade or more.