2005 Hermitage Le Chevalier de Sterimberg

The honeyed style of wine seems to have worked well with the 2005 Hermitage Chevalier de Sterimberg. Light gold-colored with notes of white peach intermixed with flowers, marzipan, and hazelnut, it is medium to full-bodied, relatively dense, and very good, but hardly a profound example of white Hermitage. I fully expect quality will dramatically soar at Jaboulet (just as it has at Chateau La Lagune in Bordeaux) and that these transitional vintages, particularly the mediocre 2004s which were not made by the new owners, and the good but hardly inspiring 2005s, will be lost memories when the new ownership team has the next fine vintage in the northern Rhone. As I reported last year, everything is in transition at Paul Jaboulet-Aine. This old family firm, founded in the early 1800s, was sold to the Frey family, who are major investors in the Billecart-Salmon Champagne house and proprietors of the well-known Chateau La Lagune in the southern Medoc. The entire winemaking operation is undergoing massive changes as the Jaboulet wines have had a lackluster as well as irregular track record after the death of Gerard Jaboulet in 1997. Importer: Frederick Wildman, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700