2007 Hermitage Vin De Paille
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Tasting notes
The 2007 M. Chapoutier Hermitage Vin de Paille is a glorious dessert wine that comes across as a sauternes that’s on steroids. The wine is 100% Marsanne that’s dried on straw mats for two months prior to pressing, and then aged in 100% new oak (which doesn’t show in the least.) It sports a vibrant gold color to go with decadent aromatics of honey, crème brûlée, buttered bread, apricot, and vanilla that is both intense, and yet suave at the same time. Rich, full, and sweet on the nose, it’s full bodied on the palate and utterly profound, yielding layers of sweetness and texture that’s amazingly focused and delineated. While it’s decadent and very sweet, it stays light and balanced, showing fantastic length and richness on the finish. While I have no reference on how these age, given this showing, I wouldn’t be afraid to open bottles at any time over the next 2 to 3 decades.
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Two exceptional sweet wines are Chapoutier’s Vin de Paille l’Ermite. Both the 2006 and 2007 reveal nearly unreal richness with over 150 grams of residual sugar, marmalade, honeyed fig, prune, and exotic candied fruit notes, and full-bodied, unctuously-textured personalities. It is difficult to say which is better at present, but both are capable of lasting 100 or more years. (Not yet released) While Michel Chapoutier produces some of the world’s greatest wines from single parcels of old vines spread throughout the northern and southern Rhone (see my ecstatic reviews of his 2007 and 2006 Chateauneuf du Papes in issue #179), he also has an impressive portfolio of value-priced wines that are often over-looked when this impressive producer is discussed. Following are some top-notch picks that all sell for exceptionally fair prices. Chapoutier has not achieved as great as success in Cornas as he has in the other northern Rhone appellations, although his Cornas wines get better with each vintage. There are four extraordinary single vineyard white wines, all of which are among the greatest dry white wines of the world. While all of them can be drunk young, they are meant for extended cellaring. Made from very small yields, they represent the essence of a varietal as well as a vineyard site. As the following notes demonstrate, 2006 was one of the greatest vintages for white wines at Chapoutier. The single vineyard selection parcellaire red wines range in production from 500 to nearly 1,000 cases. 2007 is a very good vintage for these selections, but 2006 has an edge. It is reminiscent of 1996 because of the wines’ freshness and acid levels, but Chapoutier’s 2006s are even more concentrated than his 1996s. Chapoutier’s four 2006 cuvees of single vineyard Hermitage are exquisite. Most of the yields were between 10 and 20 hectoliters per hectare, and the wines are extravagantly rich. The 2006 and 2007 luxury cuvees of Chateauneuf du Pape Croix des Bois and Chateauneuf du Pape Barbe Rac were reviewed in issue #179. They are all astounding wines, especially in 2007 Importer: Terlato Wines International, Lake Bluff, IL; tel. (847) 604-8900
Green-gold color. Extremely spicy aromas of minerals, cinnamon, clove and lemon. Dusty citrus and peach flavors gain sweetness with air, picking up hints of spun sugar and floral honey. Very fresh, with excellent finishing cut and lingering spiciness. This fascinating wine deftly plays sweetness against energy.