2013, Domaine de la Chapelle, HERMITAGE 'La Chapelle'

Tasted at Château La Lagune, owner Caroline Frey's Bordeaux outpost. One of the legendary wines from Hermitage Hil, La Chapelle comes from pretty much the only spot on the Rhone's Left Bank where you find granite, along with the classic galet stones. The Jaboulet style is to blend their plots from across the hill, resulting in the stunning power of this wine. The complexity here is of the kind that reveals a truly great wine. There are so many things happening, graphite, slate, fleshy layers of blackberry fruits that collide immediately afterwards by a tightly controlled edge of tannins, then the whole thing finishes slowly, cleanly. Incredible. 97 Jane Anson, Decanter.

A much more structured, even austere, Hermitage than the La Petite Chapelle release, the 2013 Hermitage la Chapelle came from minuscule yields of ten to 18 hectolitres per hectare and was aged 15-18 months in 20% new French oak. Not harvested until the 12th of October, it offers a sensational bouquet of blackberry and black raspberry fruits, powdered rock, gunpowder and pepper. Medium to full-bodied, with good (though maybe not great) levels of concentration, it has high, yet beautifully polished tannin, integrated acidity, and terrific cut and focus on the finish. Enjoy over the following two decades.  95 Jeb Dunnuck, Wine Advocate

Bright purple. Sexy, highly perfumed scents of ripe boysenberry, cherry cola, smoky Indian spices and potpourri take on a vibrant mineral quality in the glass. Smooth, expansive and impressively deep, showing a surprisingly delicate touch to the sweet black and blue fruit, floral pastille and spice cake flavours. Smooth, slow-building tannins come up slowly and add focus to an extremely long, juicy, mineral- and floral-driven finish.  95 Josh Raynolds, Vinous (2016).