2011 Ermitage Les Greffieux Vieilles Vignes

Showing the sunny, supple and perfumed nature of the vintage, the 2011 Ermitage Les Greffieux gives up sweet red currants, blueberry, violets, graphite and spice in its medium to full-bodied, sexy style. Hard to resist now, it will evolve gracefully through 2026. I liked this bottle even a tad more than when I tasted it on release. Michel Chapoutier continues to knockout it out of the park with his tiny, single plot “Selections Parcellaires” releases from throughout the Rhone Valley. For this tasting, we focused on three of his northern Rhones: the Saint Joseph Les Granits, which is the largest production cuvee of the three; his new release, the Saint Joseph Les Clos, from a newly replanted vineyard that’s just now coming online; and his Ermitage Les Greffieux, which is a vineyard that Michel is liking more and more. Starting off with the Saint Josephs, Chapoutier’s Les Granits releases, both in red and white, lead the way in terms of quality in the appellation. Looking at the Saint Joseph red that’s the focus here, this roughly 500-case release (it can get close to 1,000 cases in some vintage) comes from the lieux-dits Saint Joseph and Les Chames, both of which are located around the towns of Mauve and Tournon, and have superb, southerly exposure. The lieu-dit Saint Joseph is the vineyard that the appellation is named after, and it’s a gorgeous, steep, south-facing vineyard planted on pure decomposed granite soils. The wine is 100% Syrah, from 60-to-70-year old vines, and sees a similar elevage to all of Chapoutier’s Syrahs, with the grapes completely destemmed and aging occurring in a scant 20-25% new French oak barrels. As I hope these notes show, it ages beautifully, but also dishes out loads of pleasure in its youth as well. It just so happens to also represent an awesome value. Moving to Chapoutier’s newest Saint Joseph, the Saint Joseph Les Clos comes from a southeasterly facing vineyard, located high up on the slope, and only one kilometer from the Les Granit, that was replanted in 1990. While it was widely recognized for quality wine in the past, the vineyard wasn’t replanted after it was wiped out due to phylloxera. It too is all decomposed granite, yet has a different exposure than the Les Granits, and the wines show additional purity, minerality and structure. The first release was in 2011, and the quality here is shocking; these new releases have more than a passing resemblance to a top Hermitage coming from the Les Bessards lieu-dit. Hold onto your hats and jump on board, because with wines like this, Saint Joseph is going to be the next hot commodity! Moving to Chapoutier’s Hermitage releases, there’s normally 300 cases or so of the Ermitage Les Greffieux, which comes from a lieu-dit that’s located at the bottom of the Meal, butting right up against the outskirts of Tain Hermitage. The soils here are varied, with alluvial and sediment soils giving way to deep rolled pebbles (a la Chateauneuf du Pape) as you move further up the slope. While this plot has been more widely recognized as white-wine territory, Michel makes one serious red Hermitage from it. It’s also noteworthy that this plot could be considered a clos, as it’s completely surrounded by a stone wall. As with Michel’s other Syrahs, he’s moving away from huge amounts of new oak, and this cuvee is completely destemmed (this is the norm for Hermitage) and is aged in 20-25% new French oak today. Importer: Terlato Wines International, Lake Bluff, IL; tel. (847) 604-8900

Inky purple. A heady, exotically perfumed bouquet displays scents of blackberry liqueur, cherry-cola, Indian spices and potpourri. Shows excellent clarity and depth in the mouth, offering potent black and blue fruit flavors and suggestions of spicecake and candied flowers. Finishes sweet, smoky and extremely long, with silky tannins adding grip. This wine transcends its vintage.

The accessible, layered and fruit-forward 2011 Ermitage Les Greffieux will reward immediate gratification. Exhibiting plenty of blueberry, violets and exotic flowers, it is a full-bodied, mouth-filling and delicious effort to drink over the coming 8-10 years. This was an incredible tasting with Michel Chapoutier and his second hand man, Pierre-Henri Morel. Certainly one of the success stories in wine, which Robert Parker does a fabulous job of detailing in Issue 204, this estate goes from strength to strength in just about every appellation in the Rhone Valley. Looking specifically at Hermitage, Chapoutier owns a massive 64 acres, mostly on the famed Bessards lieu-dit, yet also with significant portions on Le Meal, L’Ermite and Les Greffieux, with smaller portions in the Beaume and Murets lieux-dits. From this he fashions five reds (Monier De La Sizeranne, Les Greffieux, Le Meal, Le Pavillon and L’Ermite) and four whites (Chante Alouette, Cuvee de l’Oree, Le Meal Blanc and L’Ermite Blanc), all of which are brilliant wines, with the best ranking up alongside the top wines in the world. In addition, his Saint Josephs (Les Granits and Le Clos) are some of the leading wines of the appellation (along with Guigal’s Vignes de l’Hospice and a few others), and his Cote Rotie La Mordoree, which comes from his 12 acres (split between the roughly defined Cote Blonde and Cote Brune regions), is always a classic example of the appellation. I was also able to taste through a full lineup of his Languedoc and Roussillon releases, all of which were impressive. I’ll review those wines in my 2014 coverage on those regions. Looking at the 2011 whites, these were all tasted by Robert Parker last year, but since I tasted through the lineup, I opted to include reviews here as well. Importer: Terlato Wines International, Lake Bluff, IL; tel. (847) 604-8900