Jean-Louis Chave Selection Hermitage Rouge 'Farconnet' 2019
(Northern Rhone, France) - [WS 94] [JD 92]

Thankfully he makes a fully line up of top notch wine under his JL Chave Selections label that is delicious, affordable and ready to drink on release . . . every night if you want!

You might wonder: how can wines this good, from a true master, be so affordable? We frankly don't know. It's not as though the Selection series is some négociant side project made of bulk wine or neglected grapes. 80% of the fruit comes from Jean-Louis’s own domaine, and he farms much of the rest. These are wines produced by Chave himself, both in the vineyards and in the winery.

For much of the fruit Jean-Louis uses his domaine's young vines, which produce less tannic berries. And the sourced fruit comes from the AOC's northern corners, where the grapes are naturally fresh and elegant. Chave, of course, makes the wine with the same light touch as he uses for his Hermitage, in a style that emphasizes fruit purity rather than power. All of this helps to make the wines eminently drinkable on release.

Of course, with excellent balance of structure and fruit all these wines are good candidates for the cellar. But the idea is to drink the Selection wines over the next few years while waiting on the Hermitage, which is a masterpiece that will require many years of aging.

About the Wine:

Going back to 1481, when the first Jean-Louis Chave was gifted a vineyard in St Joseph by the nobleman Farconnet, 25 generations have farmed some of the best parcels in the Northern Rhône. Though now known as perhaps the best producer of Hermitage (and certainly among the best blenders in the world), the family only expanded to this famous hill during the mid-1800s wave of phylloxera that decimated Europe's vineyards.

In the 1970s, when Gerard Chave took over from his father, the domaine rapidly achieved megastar status due to the extraordinary quality of his wines. Gerard's son Jean-Louis (25th of his name) now oversees the estate and has shown an ever expanding dedication to improving the already stunning quality of these rare wines. Jean-Louis Chave regularly dedicates the domaine to intense and exacting projects, the benefits of which will be seen by future generations. Indeed, the estate employs three full time stonemasons just to repair the traditional stone walls dotting the vineyards.

Since the 1990s, Jean-Louis Chave has offered a second label known as 'J.L. Chave Sélection' that provides a glimpse of the reason for the estate's fame at a fraction of the price. Many of these wines are from declassified estate wine and long term farming contracts, and are vinified in the domaine's primary cellar in Mauves.

Farconnet was the name of a nobleman back in the time of JeanLouis Chave’s great grandfather. He was actually the man from whom the great grandfather bought the Bessards parcel.

About The Vineyards:                                                                                    Vineyard Age: 10-60 years
Soil: Sand, clay, limestone & galets

The grapes come from 3 distinctive parts of the Hermitage hill. The majority of the blend comes from Diognières, which is at the base of the hill on alluvial soil with many small pebbles. It lends a note of spice to the wine. The next parcel is Péleat. It sits above Diognières and is composed of more sand and limestone in the clay. It gives finesse to the wine. And finally, Greffieux sits at the base of Le Méal on the hill. Its soil consists of rolled river stones brought by the glaciers. It brings structure to the finished wine. Farconnet was the name of a nobleman back in the time of Jean-Louis Chave’s great grandfather. He was actually the man from whom the great grandfather bought the Bessards parcel.