2003 M. Chapoutier, Hermitage, l’Ermite Rouge 1x300cl

Robert Parker 100

More youthful and backwards, the 2003 Ermitage L’Ermite has additional minerality, as well as the focus and purity that’s always imparted by this tiny lieu-dit. Inky purple in color, it offers up spectacular creme de cassis, blackberry, charred meats, graphite and toast as well as a full-bodied, massively concentrated profile on the palate. It’s a prodigious, insanely good wine that should be given another 2-3 years in the cellar, and enjoyed over the following two to three decades. Finishing harvest at the end of August, Michel Chapoutier produced a monumental lineup of wines in 2003, and enough can’t be said about the quality coming for this estate. To say I was blown away would be an understatement. [Jeb Dunnuck, 30/04/2014]

Anticipated maturity: 2016-2046

Vinous 97

Medium ruby. Dense, powerful, imploded aromas of blackberry, creme de cassis, coffee liqueur, pipe tobacco and smoked meat. The texture of this wine is impossibly lush and velvety, and the superconcentrated, sweet essence-of-dark-berry flavors are also incredibly lively. Wonderfully sweet, lush and endless on the finish. You’d need a squeegee to remove this from your palate. [Josh Raynolds, 01/01/2006]