2021 - Hermitage Rouge, Jean Louis Chave

The refined 2021 L'Hermitage was cropped at 37 hL/ha and bottled in early September 2023. It is laced with finely delineated orange rind, raspberry, red cherry, red plum, dried herbs, pencil shavings, black cherry, crushed violet and cedar. Showing excellent tension on the medium-bodied palate, the 2021 brings it home with clarity and freshness. That being said, it won’t be as long lived as either the 2020 or 2022.

Cask samples tasted at the domaine.Sample 1: Péléat.Meaty, smoked game with lapsang souchong smoked notes. Mulberry and leather on the mid palate – really elegant.Sample 2: Les Baumes. Smoke, fresh fig and damp earth. A dense core with tightly tuned tannins and a sweet, ripe fruit core.Sample 3: Le Méal. A slightly reductive barrel, with cooling blue fruits, spice and leather. Moderate concentration with a savoury graphite finish.Sample 4: L’Hermite. Rich, dark, brooding and ripe forest fruits. Wonderful density and depth on the palate. Sweet, perfumed fruit and a spiced, pepper note on the finish.Sample 5: Bessards. Some reduction – blueberry fruit. Very tight and linear – graphite, iron and a compact, taut core. Long and very fine with detail and clarity throughout. (AC)