Wine Reviews
The 2022 Hermitage La Chapelle brings more structure and depth, yet plays in the similar style of the estate. Beautiful cassis, graphite, crushed violets, and ground pepper all emerge on the nose, and it hits the palate with medium-bodied richness, a silky, elegant, layered mouthfeel, a terrific sense of minerality, and outstanding length. It’s not going to require a huge amount of cellaring and should have a broad drink window.
The flagship 2021 Hermitage La Chapelle (which is now released under the “Domaine de la Chapelle” label) was vinified in stainless steel and aged in 15% new barrels, with 10% in concrete eggs. It has an almost Côte Rôtie-like elegance and has perfumed aromatics of red and blue fruits, peppery herbs, smoke, and sappy, minty herbs. Medium-bodied and nicely balanced, with fine-grained tannins, it has solid underlying depth and structure, and warrants 4-5 years of bottle age. It will have 15+ years of prime drinking.
The promising 2022 Hermitage La Chapelle checks in at 14.2% alcohol. Pronounced peppercorn, crushed violets, blueberry, black cherry, cedar and licorice are all pushed forward. Layered and deep, the 2022 exudes wonderful elegance and freshness despite its marked flavor concentration. Powdery tannins gently structure this outgoing La Chapelle, finishing with a discrete salty sensation on the persistent finish.
2021 is the first vintage where the Hermitage La Chapelle is labelled as Domaine de la Chapelle instead of Paul Jaboulet Aîné. As is customary, it blends grapes from various lieux-dits (mainly Le Méal and Les Bessards, with small additions of Les Greffieux and Les Rocoules). The 2021 unwinds with precise violet, rose petal and black cherry. Cedar and spice undertones add more layers. Hitting the palate with moderate flavor concentration, this is a rather delicate rendition of this cuvée. It delivers excellent freshness on the focused finish and should drink well over the next decade
Incredibly deep and complex nose for the 2021 vintage with masses of forest berry, licorice and autumn trumpet mushroom aromas, with an enormous tannin structure that’s very refined. The classic power of Hermitage comes through at the extremely long finish. Although the tannins are anything but aggressive, the aromas will need considerable time to fully unfurl. From parcels on the western side of the Hermitage hill with predominantly granite soils, the largest parcel being in Le Meal. From organically grown grapes.
