Description
The Chave family has been making wine in the Northern Rhone since 1481 when the original Jean Louis Chave (the current head is also Jean Louis, the 25th of his name in the family) was granted vineyard land in what is now the St. Joseph appellation, by a nobleman named Farconnet. That land was around the town of Mauves just a few kilometres away from Tain l’Hermitage but on the opposite bank of the river, where they are still based today and continue to make their wines. The Chave family did not acquire any land on the hill of Hermitage until 1865, following the devastation caused by phylloxera.
It seems two family lines remained unbroken, because in addition to being the family which granted them land in 1481, the current Chave’s great grandfather bought one of their most prized Hermitage parcels (in Les Bessards) from yet another Farconnet; hence why this expression bears their name, despite none of the wine being sourced from Les Bessards which is mostly reserved for the top-label Hermitage Rouge. Much of the fruit for this is sourced from a handful of growers which the Chave family has an excellent rapport with, and all of whom farm biodynamically.
The Farconnet rouge comes from up to 60-year-old vines on the Hermitage plots of Diognières, Péleat and Greffieux. The majority of the grapes come from Diognières, where the soil consists of alluvial stones and gravel, which give the wine its edge and minerality. Péleat is located above Diognières and contains a greater proportion of limestone, while Greffieux is located on Le Méal, which, with its larger stones, gives the wine structure. The wine is vinified in a combination of used tonneaux and steel, after which it is aged in barrique for 18-24 months.
Farconnet pours quite a deep red colour, with intense and nuanced aromas of cherries, wild berries, licorice, charcuterie meat, forest floor, and a defined minerality.
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