Tasting Notes
Jeb Dunnuck 97+
The 2010 Hermitage La Chapelle is a big, inky, blockbuster styled effort that’s just now starting to enter its drink window. A huge perfume of black (and some blue) fruits, rendered bacon fat, iron, and graphite notes all lead to a powerful, full-bodied Hermitage that has incredibly purity and depth, awesome concentration, and building yet polished tannins. It’s an incredible wine that is still going to benefit from another 4-5 years of bottle age, and I suspect it will see its 50th birthday in fine form
Robert Parker 97+
The inky colored 2010 Hermitage la Chapelle is a blockbuster in the making, but is certainly not for those craving instant gratification. Massively concentrated and dense, it offers sensational minerality to go with tons of dark fruits, bacon, black olive, beef blood and graphite. Building in the glass and showing more and more mid-palate density and serious amounts of tannin, this serious, chiseled and structured Hermitage needs to be forgotten for another decade.
Anticipated maturity: 2025-2060
Vinous 96
Inky, glass-staining ruby. An exotically perfumed bouquet evokes dark fruit liqueur, smoky Indian spices, potpourri and cracked pepper. Deep but lively, offering palate-coating blueberry and cherry-cola flavors and a sexy note of candied violet. This wine opens up dramatically with a little air and shows a very suave blend of power and finesse. An energizing mineral note comes on strong on the endless finish, which features sexy floral and spicecake nuances.
JancisRobinson.com 18.0
NB vintage. Deeper colour than the 2011. Very masculine, dense and convincing. Luscious and much softer than I was expecting; the fruit seems to overwhelm the tannins! But there is lots of acidity and freshness here too. Real density.
Anticipated maturity: 2018-2035
