M. Chapoutier Le Pavillon Ermitage Rouge 2020

Description

M. Chapoutier Le Pavillon Ermitage Rouge 2020 is part of Chapoutier’s Fac et Spera Sélection Parcellaire range of wines, a range of specially selected parcels of single vineyard wines which Chapoutier describe as a “precise ‘photographic’ image of a terroir”, a snapshot of a grape, in a certain year, in a given terroir. Fac & Spera means “Do & Hope”.

Maison Chapoutier has grown into one of the largest and most recognisable producers of Rhone wines. The company dates back to 1808 when Michel Chapoutier’s distant ancester Polydor Chapoutier bought a parcel of vines in the Rhone Valley. Today the Chapoutier has vineyard throughout the Rhone from Côte Rôtie in the north to Luberon in the south as well as having overseas projecs like Domaine Tournon in Victoria, Australia. Michel is committed to making the best wines whilst respecting the environment. Chapoutier now owns the largest biodynamic vineyard in Europe. It is his personal conviction that “the complexity in a wine comes from the level of microbiological activity around the vine roots”. Soils on the Chapoutier estate never see pesticides or herbicides, floral growth amongst the vines is essential, and the natural cycles of earth, sun and moon are also considered.

M. Chapoutier Le Pavillon Ermitage Rouge is made from 100% Syrah. The jewel in the M. Chapoutier crown! A 3ha plot at the top of the Hermitage hill where the vines are over 80-year-old, planted on poor granitic soils. ‘L’Ermite’ produces a powerful, complex wine full of dark fruit, spice and ink characters, with silky tannins and notes of smoke and pepper. The most elegant and aromatic Hermitage in the range.

Grapes are hand-harvested to ensure on the best, ripest fruit is used. Due to their old age, these vines give low yields. At the winery the grapes are totally destemmed and fermented in concrete tanks. There one or two daily pumpovers to ensure a good extraction. The temperature of fermentation does not exceed 32°C. Maceration lasts between 4 and 5 weeks, to obtain a polymerization of tannins and only the free-run wine is used for this single vineyard. The wine is matured in oak casks (with an average of 30% new) for between 18 and 20 months.