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Hermitage Blanc, J-L Chave 2016

RegionRhône
Subregion France > Rhône > Northern Rhône > Hermitage
ColourWhite
TypeStill
Grape VarietyMarsanne

View all vintages of this wine | View all wines by J-L Chave

Tasting Notes

There's not much of the 2016 Hermitage Blanc to go around due to hail in the springtime, yet the resulting wine is another magical effort from this domaine. Bottled in August, it opens up with a fabulous blast of quince, white flowers, buttered citrus, licorice, and exotic spices. These all carry over to the palate, where the wine is full-bodied, rounded, and incredibly sexy, with a layered, mouthfilling texture. It doesn't have the sheer weight of the 2009 and 2010, but is deep, opulent, with plenty of fat and glycerin, and straight-up awesome purity of fruit. If you're lucky enough to have more than one bottle, it's an incredible drink today and should continue to shine for another 2-3 years. After that, I'd hold off for a good 6-7 years or more.

100
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com, December 2018

Bottled in August, Chave's 2016 Hermitage Blanc is a tremendous wine. It's a bit closed on the nose (bottle shock?), but it wows on the palate, rocking it with seismic waves of super ripe pineapple and melon fruit and more than a small dose of what I can only describe as magma-like essence of stone. It's full-bodied and mouthfilling in its richness, yet it never seems heavy or overdone. Remember that yields were constrained by hail, so don't delay in procuring whatever your budget will allow.

98
Joe Czerwinski, Wine Advocate (239), October 2018
Please note that these tasting notes/scores are not intended to be exhaustive and in some cases they may not be the most recently published figures. However, we always do our best to add latest scores and reviews when these come to our attention. We advise customers who wish to purchase wines based simply on critical reviews to carry out further research into the latest reports.