1997 JEAN-LOUIS CHAVE Rouge 1997

The Jean Louis Chave estate is the jewel of a centuries-old family. Jean Louis Chave is the sixth generation of winemakers from this estate. The estate is renowned for its very high quality Hermitage wines.

Located in the north of the Rhône region, the estate includes a 10 hectare vineyard for the production of its red wines; including a plot of very old Les Roucoules vines, another 80-year-old Les Bessards, relatively young vines at Ermite, extremely old at Péléat and Beaumes, and 50-year-old vines at Méal. Each of these vineyards produces a wine with slightly different aroma, texture and flavor palettes, but the "sum of the parts" is far more interesting than each cuvée taken individually.

The red Hermitage of the Chave estate becomes dazzling after several years of aging. Full and concentrated, magnificently complex and racy, it develops a wide range of aromas ranging from blackcurrant to smoke, including notes of prune and spices. The white, from the Jean Louis Chave estate, develops creamy and honeyed aromas of hazelnut, peach and apricot, of a rare smoothness, has an aging potential of several decades. These Hermitages impose themselves, by their freshness, their balance, their delicacy, and their length, clearly above all the others.