Jean-Louis Chave, Hermitage 2016

vinous97

Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds

Inky ruby. Highly precise, mineral-accented black/blue fruit, exotic spice, olive paste and incense aromas pick up hints of smokiness and candied licorice as the wine opens up. Seamless and penetrating on the palate, offering urgent blueberry, cherry preserve, spicecake and floral pastille flavors and a strong jolt of smoky minerality. Deepens steadily on the strikingly long, penetrating finish, which features smooth, interwoven tannins and resonating florality.

vinous98

Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds

Jean-Louis Chave showed me this unfinished wine in components. #1) Les Beaume: a gorgeous bouquet evokes red and blue fruit liqueur, incense, Asian spices and smoky minerals. Shows a very suave blend of depth and energy, silky texture and vibrant black raspberry and boysenberry flavors that spread out steadily on the back half. #2) Meal: much more firm and stern than the Les Beaume, showing bitter cherry, licorice and olive character and solid grip. Chewy and focused, but there's a core of appealingly sweet dark fruit as well. Opens up a bit with air, but this is solid and has a serious backbone. #3) Ermite: complex and intensely perfumed, displaying exotic floral and spice notes and powerful, alluringly sweet dark berry character. The floral quality dominates a very long, smooth finish where fine-grained tannins build slowly and in harmony with the dark fruit. #4) Bessards: Succulent and focused, displaying ripe dark fruit liqueur, spicecake and violet pastille qualities energized by vibrant spice and mineral flourishes. Sweet and densely packed yet animated, with superb clarity; a sexy cola nuance emerges on the back half. The mix of depth, power and energy here is textbook Chave, and this bottling will be a must-buy for those who can find and afford it.

vinous97

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

The 2016 L’Hermitage came from another magnum. This strides authoritatively into the room wanting to make a big impression with its penetrating scents of maraschino cherries, blueberry and cassis on the nose, bunches of violet intermingling with olive tapenade. The palate is medium-bodied with saturated tannins and spine-tingling acidity. Yes, it is way too young to broach, yet the pedigree of this Hermitage is patently obvious.

robert_parker99

Reviewed by: Joe Czerwinski

There’s no doubt in my mind that the 2016 Hermitage will be profound. I tasted four different lieux-dits with Jean-Louis Chave, ranging from the slightly leathery, plummy and tannic Beaume to the silky Le Méal, textbook L’Hermite and soaring Les Bessards.

robert_parker96

Reviewed by: Joe Czerwinski

Chave's 2016 Hermitage isn't the most intense or biggest wine this estate has produced, but it's a wonderfully charming, approachable effort from a vintage where quantities were halved by hail damage. Perfumed and spicy, with notes of black olives and black cherries, it's full-bodied, cuddly-soft and velvety in texture, with a long, harmonious finish. I expect it will firm up a little over the next year or two in bottle, but it's delicious now and should mature gracefully for at least 15 years, probably longer.

robert_parker98

Reviewed by: Joe Czerwinski

Still mostly in separate components, the 2016 Hermitage nevertheless looks sensational. Les Beaumes was very pretty and red fruited, with silky tannins (94 - 96). Le Méal was putting itself forward as plush and velvety, with flowers, crushed stone and ripe fruit (95 - 97). A combined sample of les Bessards and l'Hermite showed great, granite-derived structure allied to licorice and cassis (96 - 98).