Jean-Louis Chave • Hermitage, France
Hermitage by Jean-Louis Chave is the benchmark red and white of this storied northern Rhône hill, blending multiple parc…Hermitage by Jean-Louis Chave is the benchmark red and white of this storied northern Rhône hill, blending multiple parcels across nine climats to express the whole of Hermitage rather than a single site. The red, based on Syrah with a smal…Learn More »
$600
/750ml
2003 Retail Average
99
/100
2003 Pro Rating
Power and seduction collide in the 2003 Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage, a monumental Syrah that somehow keeps its cool despite the heatwave vintage. Dense layers of blackcurrant, blackberry liqueur and dark plum are streaked with pepper, violets, cocoa, smoked meat and leather, all wrapped in a creamy, voluminous texture that’s carried by an unexpectedly vivid, stony spine. This is a hedonistic yet finely focused Hermitage that shows why the vintage is so famously extreme and yet so celebrated in Chave’s hands.
Roast leg of lamb with garlic and rosemary; slow-braised beef short ribs; dry-aged ribeye with charred onions
Hermitage by Jean-Louis Chave is the benchmark red and white of this storied northern Rhône hill, blending multiple parcels across nine climats to express the whole of Hermitage rather than a single site. The red, based on Syrah with a small permitted portion of white grapes, is powerful, long-lived and granite-marked, while the white, predominantly Marsanne with some Roussanne, is a richly textured yet finely balanced wine built to develop profound complexity in bottle.