2006 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Le Meal
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Tasting notes
A big, meaty, opulent Hermitage, the 2006 Ermitage Le Méal offers a rocking bouquet of cured meats, sweet blackberries, roasted herbs, leather, and bloody, iron-like nuances. This carries to a full-bodied Hermitage that has a layered, elegant mouthfeel, sweet, integrated, almost completely resolved tannins, and a great finish. This beautifully textured, layered, seamless beauty has shed its considerable baby fat and is showing a more resolved, complex, mature style today. It will hold nicely for another decade with a gradual decline thereafter.
Critic scores
Robert Parker
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
Coming from the warmest terroir on Hermitage Hill, the 2006 Ermitage le Meal is a killer wine that oozes Hermitage notes of black raspberries, saddle leather and bloody meat. Complex, full-bodied, and textured, yet with surprising elegance, it’s an awesome wine to drink anytime over the coming two decades.
Glass-staining ruby. Deep, brooding aromas of cherry and dark berry preserves, tobacco and smoky minerals; this has shut down since bottling. Extremely rich, palate-coating cherry and black fruit flavors show a mounting smokiness. Dark notes of licorice and black tea build on the long, gently sweet finish, which features furry tannins. No way I'd go near this for at least five or six years.
Cask sample. Pale copper colour. Honeysuckle and lime blossom on the nose though slightly muted. Very rich enveloping palate impact – and quite a bit of alcohol on the finish. Not as much electrifying grip and acidity as I remember from the 2005 though a very monumental wine that should have a relatively long life. (JR)