M. Chapoutier Ermitage L'Ermite 2021

A fresh, piercing cassis style, that’s very fine and compact on the palate. Powerfully mineral, the wine really dives deep. The tannins are juicy but also energetic and strict. A wine with huge intensity and great driving energy. Not as much flesh as some recent vintages, but this is very classically Ermite with its immense tension and peppery, smoky freshness underneath. No lack, or excess, of ripeness. This is bracing. Vines are south-facing, just behind the Chapelle St Christophe.

While all the Hermitage releases here are beautiful wines, if I had to pick one. it would be the 2021 Ermitage L'Ermite, which comes from a later, cooler terroir of decomposed granite (and even a touch of limestone). As with the other releases here, it was destemmed, and this cuvée will see 18 months in 25% new French oak. Violets, crushed stone, liquid smoke, leather, and assorted darker, almost blue fruits emerge on the nose, and it's medium to full-bodied and has a laser-like focus on the palate, with fine yet building tannins. There's a certain old school-like vibrancy and structure here, and it's going to warrant 3-5 years of bottle before showing some accessibility. The alcohol levels for all three of the single vineyard Hermitage are between 13.5% and 13.8%. I would expect all of these to have 20-25 years of prime drinking.