Paul Jaboulet Aine La Chapelle Blanc, Hermitage, France

嘉伯乐教堂园白葡萄酒

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The 2014 Hermitage La Chapelle Blanc offers a liquid rock-like character as well as sensational notes of buttered citrus, flower oil, white flowers and stone fruits. Backward, tight and compact on the palate, it needs 2-3 years of cellaring and will drink well over the following decade. I love the elegance and purity in these 2014 whites. They don’t have the exuberant fruit and texture of the 2015s, yet they excel on their purity, elegance and charm.

While I wasn’t able to taste a 2013, I was able to try the 2012 Hermitage la Chapelle Blanc again. Still youthful, vibrant and fresh, it offers massive minerality to go with notions of lime, mint, almond paste and ripe apple. Full-bodied, tight, backward and crisp, give it another year or two and drink bottles over the following 10-15 years or more.

Made in the same fresh, focused and elegant style, the 2011 Hermitage La Chapelle Blanc is 100% Marsanne that comes from the clay and limestone soils of the Les Rocoules lieu-dit. With only 150 cases produced, there’s not much to go around, yet it is a thrilling Hermitage Blanc that offers awesome aromas of white peach, lychee, buttered citrus and a liquid mineral-like quality that comes through with time in the glass. Full-bodied, expansive and textured, yet also incredibly focused, pure and elegant, it needs a handful of years to flesh out, and will have 20-25 years (or more) of total longevity. Since 2006, owner Caroline Frey has been steadily pushing for increased quality at this historic estate. Moving all of the vineyards to sustainable farming (which takes years to see benefits), both the vineyard and cellar staff have been doubled. In addition, a new gravity operated cellar was set up in 2010. All of this shows, and across the board, the wines have impeccably made, clean and pure profiles. Looking at the individual Northern Rh?ne appellations, this estate produces four Hermitage (La Chapelle, La Chapelle Blanc, Le Petite Chapelle and Les Chevalier de Stérimberg), four Crozes Hermitage (Domaine de Thalabert, Domaine Mule Blanche, Domaine de Roure and Domaine de Roure Blanc), one C?te R?tie (Domaine des Pierrelles), one Cornas (Domaine de Saint Pierre), one Saint Joseph (Domaine de la Croix des Vignes) and one Condrieu (Domaine des Grands Amandiers). Looking at 2011, Caroline stated that it was easy to get ripeness, and harvest was early to avoid heat stress on the grapes. Of the three most recent vintages (2011, 2012 and 2013), 2011 had the highest yields, with both 2012 and 2013 seeing a significant drop. I was able to taste a number of these wines twice, once in a larger lineup covering the individual appellations, and again at a tasting at the domaine, with Caroline and oenologist Jacques Desvernois. Importer: Frederick Wildman, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700

The 2010 Hermitage La Chapelle Blanc is 100% Marsanne from the vineyard known as Maison Blanche situated at the top of the Hermitage appellation, above the famed lieu-dit for white Hermitage, Les Rocoules. This cuvee is very limited in availability so I’ll keep my notes brief. Aromas of white currants, pepper, quince and apricot marmalade are present in this full-bodied, gorgeously rich, pure, stunning white. Completely locked down at present, it should be forgotten for 8-10 years and drunk over the following two decades. It will unquestionably be a very long-lived white wine. Readers should not forget the southern Rhone offerings from Paul Jaboulet-Aine that I reviewed in Issue #203 (October, 2012), especially such terrific values as the 2010 Cotes du Rhone-Villages Plan de Dieu Domaine Pere et Fille and the resurrected Chateauneuf du Papes, the 2010 Domaine de Terre Ferme. The Northern Rhone wines reviewed herein reflect the emphasis on building domaine names while not forsaking the negociant wines. The wines reviewed in this report are only the domaine wines where the Paul Jaboulet firm owns the vineyards and harvests the grapes. In Cornas, the Jaboulets own the highly regarded Domaine de St.-Pierre. A second wine, the Hermitage La Petite Chapelle, is now made in order to increase the quality of Jaboulet’s flagship offering, the Hermitage La Chapelle. As for the Hermitage La Chapelle, recent vintages (starting with 2009) have been the greatest wines made at this estate since one of the all-time classics, the 1990. There was no 2011 Crozes-Hermitage Domaine de Roure declared. The white wines from Paul Jaboulet-Aine have also jumped in quality. Keep in mind that the proprietors, the Frey family, not only own Chateau La Lagune in Bordeaux, but are also major stockholders in the impressive Champagne firm of Billecart-Salmon. The 2010 whites all performed well. They are slightly less evolved and precocious than the 2011s, and possess a slightly greater degree of the crushed rock minerality than one finds in the more fruit-driven 2011s. Importer: Frederick Wildman, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700

More honeyed, fuller-bodied and exuberant is the 2009 Hermitage La Chapelle Blanc. This gorgeous white wine was aged in 100% French oak barrels, of which 50% were new. It offers up copious aromas of crushed rocks, citrus oil, mangoes, nectarines and acacia flowers as well as hints of licorice and quince. Full-bodied, dense, layered, and elegant as well as powerful and authoritative, it should drink well for 25-30+ years. One needs no further evidence of the extraordinary turn around in the quality of the Jaboulet wines than what proprietress Caroline Frey has accomplished in 2009 as well as 2010. As I indicated last year, this is one of the great qualitative turn arounds in the wine world. It is welcomed by all wine lovers given the historic legacy of the wines of Jaboulet and the importance of this famous firm in all of France. Ms. Frey, who is also responsible for the brilliant wines produced at La Lagune in Bordeaux, has reduced the amount of new oak for the red wines to about 20% and to negligible proportions for the whites. A second wine of Hermitage, La Petite Chapelle, is fashioned from 33% or more of the production that is culled out to guarantee that the great reputation of the Hermitage La Chapelle has enjoyed over the last century is maintained. Importer: Frederick Wildman, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700