Hermitage Rouge, J-L Chave 2012

One of the more charming and forward efforts from Chave, the 2012 Hermitage sports a mostly opaque purple color to go with classic creme de cassis and blackberry fruits intermixed with notions of lead pencil shavings, violets and powdered rocks. Deep, full-bodied and sumptuously textured, with good freshness, this pure, elegant Hermitage shows more and more definition and cut with time in the glass, but never loses it's more fruit forward, charming profile. I suspect it will drink nicely for most of its life.

Les Beaumes was muscular, round, rich and substantial. Very long-term wine with lots of chew yet with sap, power and roundness. Péléat was pure, transparent pepper. Sweet, easy, lifted and transparently nervy. Méal (14%) was particularly dark ruby with sinews, structure and masses of tannin. L'Hermite, usually the last to be picked, was extremely complex on the nose as well as being particularly big and beefy yet had admirable freshness. Bessards JL Chave regards as perhaps the most typical of Hermitage - very powerful with a dry finish and an admirable spine.

Looking at the 2012 Hermitage, which is still resting in barrels and getting ready to be bottled, it's a much more classic, easy to read Hermitage that has lots of ripe, sweet fruit in its full-bodied, concentrated, textured profile. It has copious sweet blackberry and cassis fruit, violet and serious granite-like minerality, superb mid-palate depth and a focused, structured finish. It's a beautiful, classy 2012 that will have 20-25+ years of longevity.