Soil type: Limestone clay and silt soil. Sandy gravel.
Average age of vines: 40 years.
Winemaking: Temperature controlled alcoholic fermentation. 3 weeks maceration in vats. 24 months in oak barrels.
Average yield: 40 Hl / hectares.
Average annual production: 88,000 bottles.
Pair with: Small game, red meat and cheese.
Chateau de Saint Cosme Chateauneuf du Pape 1.5L 2005
60% grenache + 40% mourvèdre, La Crau and Valori, Aged for 24 months in two to four years old barrels. The 2005 was an out-standing vintage and the most impressive appellation. Balance! Strength! Structure! Complexity! With the entire range of magical aromas from Chateauneuf. Brandied cherries, squashed strawberries, truffle, thyme, black...
Chapoutier Hermitage la Sizeranne 2005
Colour : Deep garnet red, with purple highlights.
Nose : Red fruit (raspberry, blackcurrant), with a hint of liquorice.
Mouth : Good attack, it is a round, elegant wine, soft and concentrated tannins, and a long aftertaste of blackcurrant and raspberry, spicy when it is young.
6 exceptional terroirs : Le Clos Cote Blonde , La Garde Cote Blonde , La Grande Plantee Cote Blonde , La Pommiere Cote Brune , Le Pavillon Rouge Cote Brune , Le Moulin Cote Brune . Winemaking: Closed stainless steel tanks. Temperature controlled alcoholic fermentation, 4 week maceration. 38 months in new oak. Average yield: 35 Hl/Hectare...
Chapoutier Ermitage les Greffieux 2005
Colour : Deep red garnet with violet highlights during the first years.
Nose : Ripe fruits during the early years.
Mouth : Powerful tannins, mellow, stewed blackberries, can be kept for a considerable time.
Chapoutier St. Joseph Rouge Les Granits 1.5L 2006
St Joseph, Northern Rhone One of the finest wines Chapoutier has made from this appellation (possibly the greatest wine ever produced there) is the 2006 St.-Joseph Les Granits. Incredible aromas of spring flowers, graphite, crushed rocks, licorice, subtle wood, truffles, black raspberries, and black currants soar from the glass of this full-bodied effort. Dense and rich yet light on its feet, this is a stunning wine of exceptional individuality as well as potential. It will be drinkable young, but should keep for 12-15+ years.
- Rated 95 Robert Parker This has good guts for the vintage, with blackberry, briar and aged tobacco notes laid over solid, grippy tannins. Bittersweet cocoa and Black Forest cake notes stretch out on the finish. Offers very solid depth for the vintage. Drink now through 2011. 755 cases made. –JM
- Rated 92 Wine Spectator
Chapoutier Cote Rotie La Modoree 98
Cote Rotie, Northern Rhone, Rhone The 1998 Cote Rotie La Mordoree, a wine that spends 12 months in 100% new oak, and is made from 75-80-year old Syrah vines planted on both the Cote Blonde and Cote Brune (some are adjacent to Guigal's La Turque), exhibits an opaque ruby/purple color in addition to a spectacular nose of grilled toast, cured olives, cassis, fried bacon, and smoke. As it sits in the glass, additional nuances emerge. Deep, full-bodied, powerful, and concentrated, this 1998 is already approachable. The unctuous texture and long, 45-second finish suggest even greater promise for the future. Anticipated maturity: 2004-2020. - Rated 94, Robert Parker
Chateauneuf du Pape, Southern Rhone, Rhone The 1998, which comes from a parcel of Grenache vines planted in 1901 in the western sector of the appellation. A dark plum/purple color is accompanied by a smoky, kirsch, roasted meat, and saddle leather-scented bouquet. The wine took a full year to ferment dry. The result is a blockbuster, full-bodied, super-concentrated Chateauneuf du Pape with multiple nuances of spice and Christmas fruit cake, as well as a lusty, heady, alcoholic finish nicely balanced by abundant quantities of glycerin and dense, layered fruit. Don’t hesitate to drink it now as well as over the next two decades. - Rated 96, Robert Parker
Hermitage, Northern Rhone The 1998 Ermitage Le Pavillon flirts with perfection ... again. Revealing a striking bouquet of violets, blackberries, smoke, licorice, and minerals, it is luxuriously rich, full-bodied, and layered on the palate. It is a wine with a finish that lasts beyond a minute. Remarkably, yields were a mere 10 hectoliters per hectare. There is plenty of tannin in the finish, but it is ripe and well-integrated. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2050 - Rated 98, Robert Parker
Chapoutier Cote Rotie La Morderee 1.5L 2006
Colour : Deep purple red.
Nose : Rapsberry, a hint of violet, a touch of olive and tapenade , of rosemary, with a dominante of spice.
Mouth : Full flavoured, elegant, very well-structured and balanced.
Chapoutier Ermitage l'Ermite 1.5L 2006
Colour : Very deep garnet, almost black in colour.
Nose : Black fruits with spicy and ink notes.
Mouth : Tannins are not only very powerful but also mellow, smokey notes, pepper, highlights wonderfully the Syrah variety on granite soils.
