CHAVE HERMITAGE ROUGE

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.

“A tasting of the constituent lieux-dits before blending was as instructive as ever. Péléat was smooth, silky and red-fruited with good acidity; Beaumes slightly meatier, a little less concentrated than a typical year, but with good tannic drive; L’Ermite was serious, dry and mineral; Bessards very strict, with tight, rigid tannins. The final blend is likely to produce a structural rather than generous style of Hermitage, with tannins that will need a long time in bottle to settle. This will be ascetic in youth, then complex and textural with age.” – Decanter

Chave is one of the latest to harvest, because he believes that tannin and extract are more important than acidity in giving the wine ageing ability (which tracks given that even the two white Hermitage expressions always seem to reach 15% alcohol). The grapes are usually destemmed to eliminate astringent tannins, but in a ripe year such as 1990, he may leave 50% of the stems. Fermentation and cuvaison lasts 2-3 weeks, with temperatures allowed to rise above 30°C, particularly at the end of the fermentation when extraction is critical. Chave uses a mixture of old open oak vats (with pigeage by foot), cement cuves and stainless steel (with pumping over), depending on the individual needs of each parcel. Malolactic fermentations may take place in vat or in cask, and press wine may or may not be blended back, depending on the year. The reds are aged 15-18 months in cask or in old Hungarian oak ovals of 1300 litres. A maximum of 10% new oak is used, but Chave prefers second-hand barrels which he buys from Christian Serafin in Gevrey-Chambertin. After careful racking, the blend is painstakingly assembled, with the discarded wine sold off in bulk.