Chapoutier Ermitage L'Ermite Rouge

Another wine that topped out on my scale, the 523-case 2012 Ermitage l'Ermite is as profound an Hermitage as you can find. Coming from the granite soils located around the Chapel on the top of Hermitage hill, it's always the most tight, backward and structured of the releases, even more so than the Pavillon, which always seems to have another layer of sweet fruit to me. The 2012 is deeper and richer than the 2011, yet as with most 2012s, it more approachable and forward than the 2010 (and 2009 in this case). Exhibiting awesome notes of powdered rock, creme de cassis, liquid violets and lite gunpowder, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, awesome mid-palate depth and building, ultra-fine tannin that frame the finish. It's an incredible wine that will won't start to become approachable until a decade after the vintage, and then will keep for three decades.

Racy, sinewy, polished with refined ripe fruit underneath but very skilfully hidden. Long and juicy and so very different from Le Méal, for instance. Much less burly. Splits the difference between Méal and Greffieux. Wonderfully lifted nose. Savoury.

Incredibly dense elderberry fruit with raw-meat, smoked-bacon, balsamic-vinegar, mushroom and tar aromas. But there are plenty of other nuances in this astonishing Hermitage! Gigantic fine tannins support the wide-screen palate that’s packed to the brim with richness, yet remains so bright and clean. Stunning stony minerality at the almost endless finish. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification. Drinkable now, but best from 2027.