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Hermitage La Chapelle, Domaine Paul Jaboulet Aine 2012

Tasting Notes

The grand vin is the 2012 Hermitage la Chapelle, and it lives up to the billing in 2012. Coming mostly from the Meal and aged in just 20% new French oak, it's a blockbuster that exhibits thrilling, mineral-drenched notes of spiced dark fruits, beef blood, black olive and toast. Full-bodied, deep, layered and incredibly concentrated, it has a stacked mid-palate and enough tannin to warrant another 4-5 years of bottle age. It will have 2-3 decades of overall prime drinking, and certainly evolve for longer.

97+
Jeb Dunnuck, Wine Advocate (216), December 2014

The flagship 2012 Hermitage La Chapelle is a gorgeous effort that should be one of the top handful of wines in the vintage. Coming mostly from the domaine's 17 acres in the warmer Le Meal lieu-dit and aged 15-18 months in 20% new French oak, it exhibits a tight, structured feel, with ample graphite, blackberry, roasted meats, espresso and licorice aromas and flavors all flowing from the glass. Full-bodied, incredibly pure and with masses of fine tannin, it's blockbuster stuff that will require short-term cellaring to become approachable and have 2-3 decades of overall evolution.

95/97
Jeb Dunnuck, Wine Advocate (210), December 2013
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.