Hermitage Syrah

From Mag. An absolute wow of a bottle. The nose is crazy intense, lucid and profound. Dark plum fruit with a whiff of band aid, iron, black pepper, a tangy meatiness. Loads of delicate floral notes floating around, but a soulful and pristine bottle. As fresh as an early 2000’s bottle but so much age and precision going on. Wonderful. Just spectacular.

Reddish tawny. Interesting nose. Notes of coffee and molasses, black fruit, earth and dirt, and some slate stone. Decent finish. Guessed "old Rhone" which was all I had at that point, which was better than other guesses given the smells and notes were complex. This had a heavier profile and was a little darker than the 83, but the 83 seemed to be the better bottle today. Still a great treat to try this (but drink up soon if you're sitting on bottles!)...

Slightly odd on the nose. Bananas? Slightly scorched. There’s lovely intense fruit. Super fresh and rounded- but a slightly strange nose. When revealed... wow. I can’t believe young the fruit still is. Nearly a great wine but odd bits going on take the edge off.

Tasted blind. Dark tawny. Mostly opaque. Funky nose. My wife would call it ”dirty socks”. Notes of plum, black cherries, sage spice, black pepper and some musty wet dirt. Angular in the mouth. Good finish. Guessed 88 Chave.

Surprisingly mature.

Funky nose at first but a beautiful palate with great acidity and balance- chave white

Rustic blood iron beautifully balanced.

Smokey, Briney, intense with olive, saline, mineral character: swoon

Elegant, seamless, and tertiary. It has all the Chave signatures in their final forms.

This is a beautiful Chave It needs at least one and a half hours to open and show its richness and depth. It was paired against the 1978 La Chapelle which also showed extremely well. After 1.5 hours the two wines were in tandem as to quality if not as to profile. The Chave showed that classic pheromonal element that the La Chapelle does not, while the La Chapelle showed its elegance in spades.