2016 Hermitage Les Miaux

Inky ruby. Deep-pitched dark berry, licorice, smoked meat and incense aromas are complemented by building spice and olive notes. Sappy and impressively concentrated, offering bitter cherry, blueberry, fruitcake and espresso flavors supported by a spine of juicy acidity. A suave floral nuance comes up on an impressively long, smoke-tinged finish framed by smooth tannins. Fermented in concrete tanks and aged in new and used demi-muids .

This makes a strong, dark-fruited impression, showing attractive dark stones, gunflint, meat, woody spices and licorice with black-plum and cherry-paste aromas. The palate has a very succulent, lithe, juicy and plush feel with a very rich, round and mouth-filling palate. Try from 2027.

Leading off the three Hermitage cuvées, the rich, powerful, and backward 2016 Hermitage Les Miaux gives up lots of blue fruits, violets, leafy herbs, bay leaf, and wet stone-like aromatics. It's rich, layered, and textured on the palate, with loads of fruit and terrific purity. In short, it’s a seriously good Hermitage to that’s going to benefit from 2-4 years of bottle age and keep for 15-20 years. I feel as though my ratings on the wines of Ferraton go up every year, and these 2016s are another brilliant, incredibly consistent lineup from this team. It’s worth mentioning that Ferraton is run by Michel Chapoutier. However, they have a separate, designated winemaking team. The only drawback to these wines is that, by and large, they’re made in tiny quantities.