Tasting Notes
John Gilman 94
Back in this era, there were three distinct bottlings of Hermitage from Gerard Chave, or this was at least the shared wisdom in the marketplace at the time. One blend was made for Robin Yapp, Chave s importer in London, another for Kermit Lynch and a third for Langdon-Shiverick. All three were purported to be slightly different blends from the various Chave holdings in different climats on the hill of Hermitage. I do not know this to be a fact, but it was the standard perception back at this time. Consequently, I have always kept track of which importers bottling I was tasting and this lovely 1996 was the Kermit Lynch. When released, the 1996 vintage of Chave Hermitage was one I did not particularly love and it was the only vintage between 1989 and 1997, other than the 1992, where I did not buy at least a solid case of the wine. It was always a bit charmless in its youth and I was not really sure where it was headed. However, at age twenty-seven, it is quite clear that I should have always had faith, as the wine is lovely. It offers up a superb nose of cassis, black raspberries, chocolate, pepper, grilled meats, dark soil tones, just a whisper of oak and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and rock solid at the core, with still a touch of backend tannin and simply great length and grip on the poised, complex and impeccably balanced finish. A lovely bottle of Hermitage with decades of life still ahead of it.
