The 2016 Sandélections Parcellaires Wines from M Chapoutier
N.B. Following hail during the growing season, production on some of these wines is much reduced.
Please feel free to request whatever wines are of interest, but confirmation - and invoices - will not be remitted until June.
Please feel free to request whatever wines are of interest, but confirmation - and invoices - will not be remitted until June.
Whites
2016 Alsace Lieu Dit Berg Riesling, Chapoutier£108 in bond per 6 Drink 2018-22
Nice clarity of cool, mixed citrus and orchard fruit: lemon and yellow apples and yellow flowers. Something pastille-like about the flavours, perhaps a hint of rhubarb and small oranges. Lovely weight in the mouth and quick grip. It pushes steadily to a very long finish. There's a slate-y firmness to the ending and a lightly pithy, spicy death. Very long indeed.
2016 Alsace Lieu Dit Buehl Riesling, Chapoutier
£108 in bond per 6 Drink 2018-23Strongly coloured wine: a pale lemon. Nose is quite shy at the moment, but I can locate a bit of orchard fruit. Pastilles and fruit skins, almost a touch candied. This is much richer than the above, with a very spicy, piquant core to the ripe yellow apple fruit. Becomes refreshingly bitter/pithy at the death. Lovely orange, juicy grip. Great line here and it gains intensity. Fabulous scrunch at the end.
2016 Alsace Lieu Dit Fels Riesling, Chapoutier
£123 in bond per 6 Drink 2018-25Very airy nose that smells lightly of citrus juice: lemon and green orange. Very nice concentration and this is really juicy from very near the front. It becomes firmer throughout. There's great spicy, sustained grip here. An elemental wine with a great scrunch of lemon freshness. Very long and direct with a firm and pithy core. Fabulous dart of a finish. Energy and direction here. Fabulous.
2016 Crysopée Colioure Blanc, Chapoutier
£162 in bond per 6 Drink 2018-23
N.B. This is a blend of Grenaches Blanc and GrisThe nose here is a touch reserved, but I found aromas of ripe orange and a touch of sweet spice. Hints of liquorice and pork far and an airy pear aroma. The palate tastes ripely of pear and orange fruit, all a little creamy up front. There's a spicy core of grip, with everything becoming increasingly spicy and grippy throughout. This is drily structured with a fine earthy texture at the core. Very long wine, butty, with a very incisive, grippy death.
2016 St Joseph Blanc Les Granits, Chapoutier
£225 in bond per 6 Drink 2020-27
This smells of smoky, leesy reduction at the moment, yet the palate is rich and plush and delicious. There's a hint of struck match as it becomes steady with easy grip in the mouth. It switches then to finish on a very mineral note of smoked rocks. Quite a fresh thing this, and very long. Overall, delicious.
2016 Ermitage Le Méal, Chapoutier
£690 in bond per 6 Drink 2022-34
A boldly coloured wine. Nose of herbs and firm yellow fruits. Nicely reserved aromas, but I can find yellow cherries and pear and orange leaves, plus smoky notes, toasted nuts and yellow pastilles. . In the mouth, this is a dry, contained wine, confident and linear. Backward, with a hint of the struck match. Yet there's great disarming sustain here. It's very long and becomes spicy in its structure. The grip grows subtly. It ends on a nippy, spicy death. Yellow apple fruit with toasty, spicy structure right through. There are no fireworks to this, no showing off. It's simply a direct and very classy wine.
2016 Ermitage de l'Orée, Chapoutier
£732 in bond per 6 Drink 2022-36
This is also a well coloured wine. Nose is rich and tangy with yellow pastille-like fruits. Lemon peel and liquid minerals. There are notes of toast and pine needles. Entry is rich and fluid. There's a hint of sugared almond and very ripe yellow apples. This is pretty laid back. Apples and pears with a core of spicy, dry minerality. Very long and fully spiced. Big, very spicy and incisive grip, becoming grippier still later. Fine finish. Fine wine.
2016 Ermitage l'Ermite, Chapoutier
£1,620 in bond per 6 Drink 2022-38
Big rich nose showing some leesy reduction. Beneath that is pastille, pear-like fruit, rich and sweet. The palate is very quickly dry and very dense with a nutty, toasty texture. Earthy. Long and direct. This is a busy, big and structured wine: something of a white wine with an almost red wine structure about it. Touch of tannin. Super long and the finish is mighty busy.
Reds
2016 Côtes du Roussillon Villages Lesquerde, Domaine de Bila-Haut 'R.I'
£219 in bond per 6 Drink 2020-29
Fascinating sauvages blue and black fruit aromas, especially damson. The palate here is rich, a touch creamy, with rich and tacky tannins. Liquorice is laced right through this. This is really very long and has lots of granular-textured mineral interest. A stunner!
2016 Côtes du Roussillon Villages Latour de France, Domaine de Bila-Haut 'V.I.T.'
£183 in bond per 6 Drink 2021-30
Nose is dark with notes of tangy rhubarb and beneath dark damson scents. This comes across as cooler and more structured; tangy fresh with a great deal of rich supportive tannin. The finish is out of sight, the whole impression one of focus and mineral interest.
2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Croix des Bois, Chapoutier
£222 in bond per 6 Drink 2021-2030
Very boldly coloured wine, almost opaque. Nose of snappy red fruits and an earthy touch of liquorice. Aromas are a red and darker plum cream, plus some dried herbs of the south. A firm wine, this, with candied, sweet shop flavours, red and black. Lovely integrated structure with really nutty, earthy grip. Dense and structured wine of incisive grip; lively, juicy and intense. Blue and black fruit. Great firm, grippy throughput.
2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Barbe Rac, Chapoutier
£240 in bond per 6 Drink 2022-2035
Floral aromas: real touch of pot pourri here. Sweeter smelling than the above, of tangy fruits sauvages: dark, wild cherry and plum. Creamy-dark with a firm, dark bramble aroma. This is firm from the front and quickly structured with lovely assertive, spicy-rich, very present tannins. Long and masculine wine; dry, dense and pure. This is quite superb.
2016 Crozes Hermitage Les Varonniers, Chapoutier
£162 in bond per 6 Drink 2023-36
Lovely pure aromas that smell distinctly of the rose garden, plus black, pure, snappy plum fruit. Aromas are red and firm and dense, of dawn-picked fruit. A touch briary, this, but quickly structured with firm and fresh tannins. Backward and full of firm structure. High and determined grip. Very long wine of phenolic plenitude. Almost pippy, this. Altogether fabulous.
2016 St Joseph Les Granits Rouge, Chapoutier
£210 in bond per 6 Drink 2020-27
This is really quite reduced at present. Aromas are a touch creamy, of black cherry and dark, pure, domestic plum. This is firmly structured from very near the front. A really backward wine of rich, integrated, ripe, chunky and altogether fabulous tannin. Real architecture here. Long and becoming tacky. Pure and black and very clean fruit. Cool and contained with great, powerful fresh sustain and a stunning finish. Very juicy and incisive.
2016 Côte Rôtie La Mordorée, Chapoutier
£420 in bond per 6 Drink 2024-36
Nose is dark and backward and briary, of black cherry, with hints of dark chocolate creamy wood. The palate is plush and dark with very tangy-fresh fruit and integrated very fresh and tacky tannins. A long wine that becomes limestone-rocky in its great, busy grip. Cool and very fresh and there's a juicy snap to the fruit. Great freshness of fruit and acidity. Just fabulous wine.
2016 Ermitage Greffieux, Chapoutier
£510 in bond per 6 Drink 2024-40
This is also really quite reduced, but I can make out wild red and black very tangy fruit and a hint of rhubarb and bacon fat. The palate is cool and rich and full of ripe structure. I find a hint of the briar here and there's juicy tang to the red and darker fruit. Rhubarb returns. A long wine that has granular minerality at its core and nutty, tacky, incisive tannins. Very fresh with incisive grip. Really long and energetic. I love this. It has an incredible finish.
2016 Ermitage Le Méal, Chapoutier
£747 in bond per 6 Drink 2026-40+
Very nearly opaque. A rich and creamy thing to smell, of red and black fruits. Quite marked by chocolaty wood and there's the plum and cassis fruit, very cool and fresh. This is rich and complete and fresh with upright, fresh tannins that are integrated. High, fresh grip. This is loaded with very rich, fine and tacky tannins. There's lots here. Very fresh granular mineral texture that's quite spicy. Very drily dense mineral death. Stuffed.
2016 Ermitage Pavillon, Chapoutier
£1,077 in bond per 6 Drink 2026-40+
Rich, very dark plum cream of a nose. Dried flowers; geranium. Backward and stuffed with big structured grip from upright, grippy tannins. Very fresh grip to this very long wine. This is absolutely loaded. Massive tannic framework and very dark and spicy fruit. Power and freshness here. Will last forever. Very fresh. Fabulous stuff. Some oak to the finish, but that will be completely absorbed by the massive fruit with time. Wow.
2016 Ermitage l'Ermite, Chapoutier
£1,170 in bond per 6 Drink 2027-40+
Touch of breadth to this sample. This is rich and dark and creamy. Huge tacky tannins lie within. Very backward and intense wine with floral nuances to the pure dark cherry/cassis fruit. Stuffed, this. Elemental, powerful and highly structured and very fresh example. Superb.
