In the early 1800s, pioneering vigneron and the godfather of modern wine criticism, André Jullien, famously proclaimed that of all the world’s vineyard sites, three were the undisputed best: Burgundy’s Romanée-Conti, Bordeaux’s Château Lafite, and the Rhône Valley’s Hermitage. And on the sacred hill of Hermitage, there is no family name more iconic than Chave.
Starting in 1481, countless generations of the Chave family have hand-farmed this same hillside in pursuit of one shared goal: a timeless and sacred wine that outlives its creator and is passed down to the next generation. The accumulation of so many centuries of expertise and tireless labor result in a wine against which all other Syrahs are judged. Chave Hermitage is the standard. No one bottle so perfectly captures the history and grandeur of France’s Rhône Valley as expressed through the Syrah grape. For me, Chave is a mandatory cornerstone in any serious wine collection—but as with any best-in-class wine, counterfeiting is always a concern. Fortunately, the pedigree and provenance of today’s spellbinding 2012 l’Ermitage are second to none. Our small allocation has been sitting in the same climate-controlled cellar to which the Chave family delivered it upon release. We have very little to share (just two per customer), but one sip of this epic wine confirms that this is perfectly stored wine.
For this 2012 release, I’m guessing peak drinking will begin in the mid-2020s. If you insist on opening before then, please open the bottle 24 hours before serving in large Bordeaux stems alongside a seared Mangalitsa pork chop. That’s what I did, and today it is a torrent of intensely perfumed black currant and red berry fruit backed against a wall of solid granitic minerality. The tooth-staining concentration and unbelievable length of the finish are textbook Chave. In this gloriously youthful state, there is also an intense core of freshness and crunchy acidity which guarantees delicious drinking for decades to come. Words don’t really do it justice, so I’ll stop here; if you have the means, this is simply a must-have. Cheers!