M. Chapoutier Ermitage Le Méal Rouge 2017

Always the earliest-ripening portion of the Chapoutier holdings on the Hermitage hill, the 2017 Ermitage le Méal is a complete standout. Crème de framboise notes remain fresh and lively throughout, joined by hints of blueberry, baking spices and vanilla, while the tannins are silky, the mouthfeel generous and the overall impression is one of great seductiveness and elegance.

A showy expression with very fresh and exotic aromas of red and white cherries, peaches, oranges and plums, as well as dark chocolate and a swathe of spices. The palate is so appealing, offering really fleshy, succulent and sweet, ripe dark plums and chocolate and very glossy, gossamer tannins. So polished. Very long. Best from 2025.

This is part of a welcome move away from oak influence in Chapoutier's Hermitage range: they first moved to using only Burgundian barrels, then gradually decreased the amount of new oak. This 2017 will spend 18 months in barriques and demi-muids, just 25% new. It's distinctly blackberry in aroma, very ripe and fresh with a touch of blackberry coulis and some spicy reduction. It's very concentrated and full-bodied yet not massive, but the effect is nonetheless hugely powerful - it's very tannic and highly saline with a very long finish of serrated, mineral tannins. This will be very long lived.

The 2017 Ermitage Le Méal was backward and closed, which is rare for this wine, yet has classy and complex notes of black raspberries, toasted spices, graphite, game, and flowery incense-like nuances. Full-bodied, silky, and flawlessly balanced, give bottles 4-5 years of bottle age and it should keep for 20-25 years or more.