Hermitage Blanc Jean Louis Chave 2021

Jean-Louis Chave is the sober heir to a long dynasty of winemakers originally from Ardèche, which began in 1481. At that time the Chave family owned vineyards on the land that is now part of the AOC Saint Joseph. Hence Jean Louis' never-denied interest in this appellation, where he is moreover trying to replant some abandoned hillsides. Today the Chave family owns about 14 hectares of Hermitage, with plots in most of the quarters. A great diversity of terroir, which reinforces Jean-Louis Chave's intimate conviction: a hermitage can be nothing more than an assemblage wine. 

To walk through the vineyards with the host is always an interesting thing, because he possesses very keen observational qualities: not only at the level of the soil and the vines but also in terms of the relief or structure of the stone walls, whose material, according to him, is able to illustrate the terroir. According to Chave, the granite of the Bressards is of the same nature as that of the Massif Central, but more complex and less acidic, while that of the Varognes, along the course of the Rhone, where the soil is very thin, is more so.

Hermitage red is made mainly from a blend of grapes from the Bressards, Hermite, Méal, Beaumes and Péléat. In exceptional vintages, the winery also produces another red, the Hermitage Chatelin, also the result of an assemblage of various plots, with, however, a predominance of grapes from the Bessards, which give this cuvée a concentration that can differentiate it from the producer's classic style. 

White Hermitage is produced from 5 hectares located in Rocoule, Péléat, Hermite, Meal and Maison Blanche.

This emblematic Domaine practices very careful, artisanal viticulture, but without claiming any certification. The soil is generally worked with the use of a horse or small crawler; sometimes with a winch at the top of the Bessards. Synthetic products have not been used for years, and in particularly steep plots the work of one man per hectare is necessary.

In the winery, few schematic solutions, but a few rules of thumb. No exogenous yeast for the reds, while for the whites an in-house selected yeast is sometimes used. Domaine wines are undoubtedly very well constructed, always balanced and intended for long aging.