2012 Domaine JL Chave Hermitage Rouge

• Growing & Producing Wine Since 1481
• 16 Generations of Unbroken Lineage 
• Multiple 100 Point Wines
• #1 Syrah Producer in the World
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About The Wine

The Chave family has been growing wine in the Northern Rhone since 1481. Jean-Louis joined his father in 1992 and currently represents 16 generations of unbroken lineage committed to the production of some of the finest Syrah, Marsanne, and Roussanne on the planet! The Key to these long-lived wines of great purity, elegance, power, and finesse, is the family's winemaking pedigree and remarkable blending skills. The Chave family has never released a single vineyard or cru Hermitage instead cultivates the perfect blend of vineyards crafting the most prodigious Syrah wine in the world, year after year.

“The Chave line ... could make a fair claim to be France’s winemaking royal family: in no other of France’s great terroirs is the largest individual landholder so deeply rooted in time and place, so supremely competent, and so modest a custodian of the insights and craftsmanship of the past.” ~ Andrew Jefford, The New France

The Chave’s methods for all their winemaking are traditional farming, super low yields (focused on quality), full ripeness, and minimal manipulation. Their unmatched meticulousness continues through five centuries to render venerable expressions of the purest of Rhône terroir! Chave's family talents passed down from generation to generation allows them to produced unmatched wines in even the most difficult vintages. As the largest landowner on the hill of Hermitage, the Chave family's consistency and commitment to crafting the world's finest Syrah has been unmatched over five centuries.

Many hours of thought, insight, and conversation go into the final component blend for Hermitage. While percentages vary from year to year, the constant backbone of Hermitage Rouge is Syrah from Bessards Vineyard with its steep, granitic slopes. These vines average 50 years in age with the best vines reaching 80+ years in age. Generally, 100% destemmed, as the Hermitage is meant to be about the expression of the individual vineyards and soils; Jean-Louis believes that stems have a tendency to level out the differences. Fermentation in wood tonneaux and stainless steel tanks. Aged in barriques for 30 months.

Tasting Notes: 100% Syrah. Immensely complex on the nose, red fruits, dark chocolate, cassis, toasted spices, cured meat, fresh cracked pepper, and turned earth light up the senses. The palate is concentrated, deeply complex, and full of plush red fruits. The elegance of this wine is unmatched with firm acidity, fine tannins, and a finish that goes on for minutes. 

Reviews

Jean-Louis has never been the biggest fan of the 2012 vintage (I like it more than he does), yet his 2012 Hermitage is nevertheless a brilliant wine. Deep, concentrated, full-bodied, and powerful, it has a charming, supple style backed up with plenty of underlying minerality, acidity, and structure. Classic notes of crème de cassis, graphite, burning embers, and violets all define the bouquet, and while it’s beautiful today given its purity and balance, it will keep for another 25 years or more. ~96 Jeb Dunnuck

One of the more charming and forward efforts from Chave, the 2012 Hermitage sports a mostly opaque purple color to go with classic creme de cassis and blackberry fruits intermixed with notions of lead pencil shavings, violets, and powdered rocks. Deep, full-bodied, and sumptuously textured, with good freshness, this pure, elegant Hermitage shows more and more definition and cut with time in the glass, but never loses it's more fruit-forward, charming profile. I suspect it will drink nicely for most of its life. ~96 Robert Parker

Black tea and warm ganache notes frame a core of steeped plum, blackberry, and boysenberry fruit. Rather restrained at first, this picks up steam through the finish, as a well-embedded graphite edge emerges, letting the dark fruit and anise accents linger beautifully. A poised, polished, understated, and precise version that will age deceptively well. Best from 2018 through 2027 ~95 Wine Spectator

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