Paul Jaboulet (Domaine de La Chapelle) Hermitage La Chapelle 2015

This has an incredible poise and a wondrously cool, refined elegance on the nose. Inviting, enticing and alluring but not giving away all of its secrets – an invitation. Beautifully harmonious in its beguiling complexity, I find this difficult to describe and almost a crime to seek do so (it’s a tough job but someone has to!). Attaching descriptors to its considerable charms is like deconstructing what is entirely holistic and in perfect unity. Very dark chocolate, fennel seeds, lilac and just a hint of candied violet; there is a trace of cinnamon and nutmeg, that archetypally La Chapelle wild gamey-ness, garrigue herbs and aged armchair leather. The texture is fabulous – the epitome of the tannin management that marks the return to form of La Chapelle under Caroline Frey. Composed, pure, dense and compact but incredibly soft and seductive – cashmere more than silk. Utterly glorious. The best of these and very special indeed.

• Reviewer Name: Colin Hay

So inky and unfathomably profound in shade, this wine may stain your stemware as well as your palate with its caliginous hue. With a decanter filled with crème de cassis, this full bodied, concentrated dream liquid fills your mouth and coats your palate while mesmerizing your senses for at least 60 seconds. The fruit bestows purity, intensity, length and precision. In its youth, it's intellectual; when it matures, it will be a hedonistic coup d’état. Is this the best vintage since 1990 or perhaps 1978? Yes! This is off the charts. If you you have the money, this is a wine to lay down. Once other people begin tasting this wine, and word gets out, it is only going to become more expensive.

• Reviewer Name: Jeff Leve

Bright purple. Explosive, smoke- and spice-accented blueberry, cherry cola, incense and smoky mineral aromas show outstanding delineation and pick up a hint of olive with aeration. Sweet and expansive on the palate, offering deeply concentrated dark berry liqueur, fruitcake and floral pastille flavors, along with a suggestion of star anise. The remarkably long, penetrating finish features strong minerally cut, an echo of sweet blue fruit and harmonious tannins that come in late and fold effortlessly into the deeply concentrated fruit. At this stage, this is a contender for the wine of the vintage, at least by estimation.

• Drinking Window: 2028 - 2040
• Reviewer Name: Josh Raynolds
• Review Date: April 2018

The 2015 Hermitage La Chapelle is one of the estate’s finest recent efforts. It’s packed with firm tannins and will need to be lost in the cellar for a decade, but it will reward those with patience. Richly concentrated and full-bodied, it hits all the expected notes—cassis, black olive, smoke, crushed stone, pencil shavings and espresso—then finishes long, with an aristocratic sense of reserve and austerity. Winemaker Jacques Devernois compares it to a woman’s black dress, meaning it speaks of elegance and class.

• Drinking Window: 2027 - 2050
• Reviewer Name: Joe Czerwinski
• Review Date: December 2017