Hermitage La Chapelle 2010 Jaboulet Aine

Classification	Cru Classe
Type	Red
Brand	Jaboulet Aine
Vintage	2010
Country	France
Region	Rhone
Grape	Syrah/Shiraz
Volume	0,75
Condition	From Original Wooden Case
Label	Perfect
Stock	0
Volume	1,5
Condition	From Original Wooden Case
Label	Perfect
Stock	0

Professional reviews

Robert Parker (96)

It should be fascinating to compare the potentially legendary 2010 Hermitage La Chapelle with the prodigious 2009 La Chapelle over the next 30-40 years. About 20% new oak was used, and, as were previous vintages, the 2010 was aged 15 months prior to bottling. This black/purple-colored beauty is revealing more weight and richness than it did last year from barrel, along with great precision, stunning minerality and enormous quantities of blackberry, cassis, beef blood and smoked game intertwined with hints of graphite and acacia flowers. With good acidity and richness as well as abundant, but ripe, well-integrated tannin, this great wine equals the titan produced in 2009. Forget it for 7-10 years and drink it over the following 30-50 years.

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.

Winespectator (94)

Cocoa, raspberry confiture, roasted plum, tobacco and loam notes are nicely layered, backed by an ample but caressing structure. The long, lingering, tobacco leaf-filled finish shows ample depth and an echo of pastis

BOW (8.75)