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The wines > Hermitage

• BERNARD FAURIE
  

  LVT 2009 r 2009 wh A prime STGT domaine. Bernard Faurie makes traditional red Hermitage from prime sites - it is unhurried winemaking, the wines are natural, and take time to meld and blossom. The Hermitage Méal red is capable of hitting true heights (eg 2001). It is very classy. The Saint-Joseph reds are trusty local wines with the quiet red fruits of the area. The Vieilles Vignes red has more tannin and can live for 8-12 years. The whites are variable - they can hit the mark, but also miss it. His last Saint-Joseph is due to be 2010, his last Hermitage 2011.

• CAVE DE TAIN L`HERMITAGE
  

  LVT 2007 r 2009 wh The Cave de Tain holds an enormous influence on the Hermitage and Crozes-Hermitage area because of its widespread holdings - ie 70% of all Crozes comes from here. The wines are made in the modern way, with all the latest techniques - not surprising, given the size. The Hermitage Gambert de Loche, the top red wine, has been an accomplished, steady performer in recent years. The white Hermitage is also very sound and can absorb its oak as time passes, gaining complexity as it ages over 10 years or more. Cornas is also creeping under the radar, with improved wines in recent years – there are now two cuvées there. There has been marked, steady progress on the whites, including Crozes, Saint-Joseph and Saint-Péray. As a real treat, the 50 centilitre white Hermitage vin de paille in 1999 was exceptional – it is not made every year.

• DELAS
  

  LVT 2008 r 2007 wh Old family firm owned for some years by Champagne Deutz, part of the Roederer empire. Quality has turned upwards since 1998 across all wines. Leading Hermitages are very good. The Hermitage Les Bessards red is an STGT wine, and shows genuine class. Reliability plus some character in the main St-Josephs and Crozes reds. Sound Côtes du Rhône red as well.

• DOMAINE JEAN-LOUIS CHAVE
  

  LVT 2008 r 2007 wh An STGT domaine that produces supremely elegant wines with superb pedigree from the core of the Hermitage hill. Grand finesse and world class quality here. The reds can live for decades - around 30 years and occasionally even longer. They have softened up in recent vintages and drink from an earlier date than they used to. The Chaves make wonderful whites, their richness profound and captivating. They show particularly well from around 6-7 years old, and benefit from that cellar age. There are also handy St-Joseph reds that are fruited and stylish. They have gained body and grip as their vineyard has moved towards 20 years old.

• FERRATON PERE ET FILS
  

  LVT 2007 r 2008 wh Since 2006 this domaine has been wholly owned by Chapoutier, although the vinification is in separet premises. It is a domaine that worked in conjunction with Chapoutier since 1998, half of the venture selling single vineyard wines, half selling merchant wines. The Ferraton family has vineyards at Hermitage on the easterly sites like Diognières, but also prime 1960s Syrah on Le Méal. The domaine vineyards are mainly cultivated biodynamically. Winemaking methods are generally modern, with overt oak use. The Les Oliviers white from St-Joseph needs 4 years to settle its oak but is a rich, gourmand wine in shape and consistent in quality.

• JMB SORREL
  

  Traditional wines that are not easy to find because of the limited supply and the fact that some of the production is shared between the three brothers, none of whom works on the domaine.

• M. CHAPOUTIER
  

  LVT 2008 r wh The big name at Hermitage, with a large vineyard spread on the hill and also in vineyards across the northern Rhône as well. Biodynamic working of most of the vineyards. Chapoutier were the first wine estate to put Braille on its labels. Full-bodied wines are the house style, with deep red or black fruit flavours. The special red Ermitage wines are big extraction, full-on wines that take time to settle. They are also very expensive. Recently, they have been showing a sense of place. The white Hermitages are all from the Marsanne grape, and are deliciously warm and generous. They live often for 20 years or more and are standard bearers for Marsanne northern Rhône whites. Ermitage L`Ermite blanc an STGT wine. The Hermitage Chante Alouette white is always good, and needs to be left for 6 or 7 years after its early flourish. Very reliable red Crozes-Hermitage, that is good value for money. The other reds are solid. The expensive Les Granits white from St-Joseph is a very fully flavoured, traditional wine that is a treat with provincial French cuisine. There are big, sometimes plush Châteauneuf-du-Pape reds that accentuate the local Grenache grape - ripe, warm flavours. Joint ventures in Australia and the south of France; the approach looks outside the Rhône.

• MAISON NICOLAS PERRIN
  

  LVT 2007 r 2008 wh Officially formed in August 2009, this is a merchant collaboration between Nicolas Jaboulet, who left the family firm of Paul Jaboulet Ainé in early 2009, and the Perrin family of Château de Beaucastel at Châteauneuf-du-Pape. At this stage, wines are purchased, and raised and bottled at Perrin & Fils in the Southern Rhône. The name finally settled upon is Maison Nicolas Perrin.

• MARC SORREL
  

  LVT 2008 r 2008 wh One of the few small domaines with vineyards in plum, central sites at Hermitage. Generally traditional outlook. Attempts have been made since the late 1990s to work the vineyards more naturally. Winemaking has become more consistent. Since 2004 new oak has become the norm, to the tune of 25% on the reds and about the same for the whites. The red Hermitage Le Gréal can be very good indeed, a true child of the hill. The Hermitage Les Rocoules white is an STGT wine. The white Crozes-Hermitage is a cracker, made from 1945 vines, and the epitomy of traditional white Rhône from the happy marriage of Marsanne and Roussanne. This, too is STGT.

• PAUL JABOULET AÎNÉ
  

  LVT 2007 r wh Flux here now. Reach for your wallet, and hope it is padded, as well. The band is striking up the March of the Brands, and the collectors are getting a look in as well - witness the absurd notion and even more absurd price of the La Chapelle white. These wines were re-inspected in London in May 2008, to make doubly sure of impressions or to change them. The whites, it has to be said, are very disappointing. The reds are a mixed bag. Founded in 1834, this was the Benchmark House when I started in the Rhône in 1973. The 1980s saw respectable wines, but the mantle slipped markedly in the 1990s. The culmination of two sides of the family holding different objectives in life was the sale in late 2005/early 2006 to Jean-Jacques Frey, a Swiss financier. Monsieur Frey already owns Château La Lagune in the Médoc - it had been a trailblazer in the 1970s but needed investment - which it has received in abundance. Monsieur Frey also owns the vineyards of Champagne Ayala and has a share in Champagne Billecart-Salmon. His daughter Caroline is a trained oenologue and has been making the wine at La Lagune. She is due to fly in and out of Tain to oversee the winemaking there., although Denis Dubordieu, the champion of white Bordeaux, is in charge of both red and white winemaking. Expect investment, expect cleaner wines, hope for retention of soul. Quality has been so uneven during recent years that it is hard to pinpoint any particular wine as being one to follow. The southern Rhônes from the Côtes du Ventoux and usually Vacqueyras have held up their quality. In the northern Rhône it is best to consider each wine on its own merits.