Wine Advisor
M. Chapoutier, Ermitage L'Ermite Rouge 2003
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Medium ruby. Dense, powerful, imploded aromas of blackberry, creme de cassis, coffee liqueur, pipe tobacco and smoked meat. The texture of this wine is impossibly lush and velvety, and the superconcentrated, sweet essence-of-dark-berry flavors are also incredibly lively. Wonderfully sweet, lush and endless on the finish. You'd need a squeegee to remove this from your palate.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Saturated ruby. Aromas of black fruits, gunflint, earth and minerals show a jammy, port-like ripeness. Fat, lush and broad but not yet filled in. As superripe and sweet as this is today in the middle palate, it turns distinctly austere and stony on the back end, showing its granitic origin. Finishes with extremely fine-grained tannins that are a bit youthfully dry today. Hard to taste right now owing to its rawness: I may well be underestimating this wine.
Reviewed by: Jeb Dunnuck
More youthful and backwards, the 2003 Ermitage L’Ermite has additional minerality, as well as the focus and purity that’s always imparted by this tiny lieu-dit. Inky purple in color, it offers up spectacular creme de cassis, blackberry, charred meats, graphite and toast as well as a full-bodied, massively concentrated profile on the palate. It’s a prodigious, insanely good wine that should be given another 2-3 years in the cellar, and enjoyed over the following two to three decades. Finishing harvest at the end of August, Michel Chapoutier produced a monumental lineup of wines in 2003, and enough can’t be said about the quality coming for this estate. To say I was blown away would be an understatement.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
One of the single greatest red wines I have ever tasted is the 2003 Ermitage l’Ermite. With 15.5% alcohol and a level of concentration the likes of which I have never before experienced, this wine has no historic reference point or precedent. Possessing off the charts richness and intensity, yet incredible vigor and refreshingness, it will require a decade of cellaring, but I’m sure bottles will be drunk with great pleasure circa 2099+. What an accomplishment! As I have said so many times over the last 15 years, the top Chapoutier wines are meant for very long term drinking, and are not designed for immediate gratification. Everything Chapoutier is doing, from his bio-dynamically farmed vineyard to tiny yields, extended fermentations, indigenous yeasts, and no fining or filtration, is done to produce the essence of a vineyard and a vintage. His track record since 1989 and 1990 admirably proves that these are indeed remarkable wines made by a young genius who refuses to compromise. Michel Chapoutier has been misunderstood by some of his peers, and there is a lot of jealousy when someone this young is so incredibly talented, but it is an irrefutable fact that these are wines of singular greatness as well as longevity. Importer: Paterno Imports, Lake Bluff, IL; tel. (847) 604-8900
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
In terms of pure perfection and singularity, the black/purple-colored 2003 Ermitage l’Ermite is hauntingly perfect. A gorgeous perfume of flowers, black and blue fruits intermixed with a liqueur of rocks soars from the glass of this extraordinary wine. Full-bodied and multilayered, with magnificent concentration, and a stunning freshness and precision that are hard to believe given the frightfully low acidity, this is an extraordinary expression of terroir and vintage character that must be tasted to be believed. While it will be less approachable in its youth than some of its siblings, it will last for 40-50 years.
About the Producer
Founded in 1808, M. Chapoutier owns 175 hectares of vines in five appellations in the Rhone Valley and is now run by the energetic and brilliant Michel Chapoutier. Since Michel started running the estate, the quality of the winemaking has improved very quickly and the philosophy of winemaking has changed considerably. Michel Chapoutier's achievements caused an instant sensation in the winemaking world and he completely changed the way Chapoutier wines were made and the winemaking process, eventually making wines to rival those made by Marcel Guigal, one of the best winemakers in the Rhone Valley. The vineyards of Château Sapoutier range from the Rhone Valley to Châteauneuf-du-Pape, with a number of quality vineyards planted with Syrah, Grenache, Marsanne, Roussanne and other major grape varieties. The winery is "mono-varietal" (i.e. making wines from a single variety), for example, all Syrah for the Châteauneuf-du-Rotie wines, all Marsanne for the Hermitage whites and all Chateauneuf-du-Pape wines. The wines of Chateauneuf-du-Pape are all Grenache. Château Sapoutier has worked tirelessly to improve the quality of its wines, even though each single vineyard produces far more than the 500 cases of fine wine. Since 1989, Château Sapoutier has been using biodynamic farming and winemaking methods with the aim of producing wines that are the purest and closest to the natural terroir. Every decision, every step of the viticultural and winemaking process is designed to add to the terroir, varietal character and vintage identity of the wines. Only wild yeasts are used for fermentation and the wines are made in small oak barrels. The best red and white wines are not clarified or filtered before bottling.
1997(2)1999(2)2000(1)2001(3)
Package Size
3 x 1.5L
