M. Chapoutier Ermitage Blanc Plaine des Murets 2011

Description

M. Chapoutier Ermitage Blanc Plaine des Murets 2011 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.

For the 2011 vintage Michel Chapoutier identified two plots of vines from Chapoutier’s famous Ermitage Le Meal as being of unquestionable and exceptional quality. The decision was taken to set aside a few barrels from these plots to assemble them in a last-minute micro-selection box called “Tresors d’Ermitage”. Only 300 of these boxes were made available worldwide. The two plots are known as Terrasses de Galets and Plaine des Murets. Plaine de Murets is also the lieu-dit where the Ermitage Cuvée de l’Oree comes from.

M. Chapoutier Ermitage Blanc Plaine des Murets is made from 100% Marsanne from vines with an age of 80 to 90 years old planted on red clays over Miocene molasse bedrock. The grapes are whole bunch pressed, then the  juice is cold settled for 24 to 48 hours. About 50% of the volume is vinified in new demi-muids, the rest in vats. The wine is aged for 10 to 12 months in oak.

This wine can be kept from 30 to 60 years and more.