2016 Ermitage L'Ermite

Readers wanting to understand pure granite soils need to taste the inky blue/black-colored 2016 Ermitage L’Ermite, as just sticking your nose in the glass is enough to instantly transport you to this magical hillside. Crème de cassis, smoked earth, gunpowder, liquid rocks, and graphite all emerge from this deep, hugely concentrated, massive wine that has awesome depth and richness, building tannins, and vibrant acidity as well as a monster finish. It needs a decade of cellaring and will keep for half a century. This is what you call liquid gold. The estate of firebrand Michel Chapoutier continues to operate on all cylinders, and these latest 2016 and 2017 releases are world class for this address. The 2017 whites show the gradual change toward a more reductive style of winemaking, and the wines at times have an almost Burgundian feel in their minerality, acidity, and texture. Nevertheless, they’re fabulously concentrated and rich and will need 2-4 years of cellaring. The 2016 whites showed beautifully, and I prefer those to the 2017s. The majority of the 2017 reds were tasted as barrel samples. This is a ripe, sexy, expressive vintage for the Northern Rhône, and this shows in the wines. The 2017s don’t appear to have the density of the more blockbuster styled 2015s, yet they have expressive, sunny characters that will deliver loads of charm. The 2016s having slightly more density and cooler-climate styled aromatics, yet are nevertheless some of the richest, sexiest wines in the vintage. In addition to the frightfully expensive top-tier cuvées, don’t miss the value releases from this estate. These wines max out the QPR scale and are great introductions into the wines of Chapoutier as well as the Rhône Valley.