M. Chapoutier Ermitage Les Greffieux 2016
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Jeb
Dunnuck -
Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling - Decanter
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Wine
Enthusiast
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Steady garnet red with aromas of black fruit and minerals. Powerful tannins, licorice.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
From the deeper soils at the bottom of the Le Méal lieu-dit, the 2016 Ermitage Les Gréffieux was all destemmed and saw its normal 18 months in a mix of Burgundy barrels and demi-muids, with just 25% being new. This is a rich, powerful, black-fruited expression of this cuvée, offering up tons of blackcurrants, blackberries, smoked earth, chocolate, and spice. Inky colored, full-bodied, sensationally concentrated, and opulent on the palate, it's a killer bottle of wine that can be drunk today or cellared for 25 years or more.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Typically the most approachable of Chapoutier's parcel selections, the 2017 Ermitage les Greffieux is a plush, generous, downright sexy Hermitage. Loaded with redcurrants and spice and supported by silky tannins, it should be drinkable by 2020 yet drink well through at least 2035.
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James Suckling
Wild, exotic fruit, pepper and spice here. This is really wild. Blood-orange, herb and dark, spicy notes run riot amid dark, ripe, blood plums and punchy, fresh oak. The palate delivers a big serving of rich, dark plums and berries with fleshy impact and a powerful, tannin structure. From organically grown grapes.
Barrel Sample: 94-95 -
Decanter
Aged in 30% new oak, both barriques and demi-muids. It's deeply fruited, with blackberry and blackcurrant alongside some more exotic fruits. Very full, flowing and richly-fruited with deep tannic drive, and some star-anise on a long, dark, very fresh finish. A very successful Greffieux this year. Drinking Window 2024 - 2034
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Wine Enthusiast
Layers of smoke and earth keep this wine tightly closed upon opening but aeration coaxes out ripe, almost sun-baked notes of black plum and cherry preserve. It’s a shy wine in youth with tannins that are taut and a bit bitter. Wait until 2023—it should improve well through 2035 and hold further.
Other Vintages
2018-
Robert
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Jeb
Dunnuck -
Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling
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Robert
Parker -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
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Robert
Parker -
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Spectator
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Spectator -
Robert
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Robert
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Robert
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No name is more closely associated with the greatness of the Rhone valley than Chapoutier.
The history of the Chapoutier family stretches back to the early nineteenth century when current owner Michel Chapoutier's great-, great-, great-grandfather Marius purchased an estate and some vineyards in the now famous village of Tain l'Hermitage in the Northern Rhône Valley. Marius Chapoutier made history in the region when he became the first grape grower there to vinify his own fruit. Marius had tasted wines other winemakers produced using his fruit and he realized that something was lost in translation, so to speak. He knew that he owned some of the best growing sites in the appellation and he believed — rightly — that the grapes grown in his vineyards could produce long-lived world-class wines. In a move unusual at the time, he decided that he should make the wine himself. Not only did the quality of the wines increase greatly, but this move provided the capital to expand the Chapoutiers’ already legendary estate.
A visionary and pioneer in biodynamic winemaking, his restless energy and unconditional commitment to quality have produced tremendous success, with the most 90+ point ratings of all Rhône producers and 16 "100 point" rated wines.
Sothis Gin is distilled from grapes and plants grown near the vineyards. This family domaine is cultivated using biodynamic practices in which plants play a central role. In their wild state they offer M. Chapoutier a better understanding of the soils. When used in vine treatments they help to nourish plant life and support plant growth. They have selected a few of these plants in order to offer a new perspective of their terroirs, the story of a gin originating from the Tain l’Hermitage vineyards and their floral heritage. They have been honing this recipe for many months under the watchful eye of Sothis, the star and also the ancient Goddess who teaches us that cultivating the land is a means of moving closer to the stars.