WTN: 1985 J L Chave Hermitage

1985 Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage

Young Hermitage is an impenetrable purple color. Twenty eight years past the vintage, the color is a brilliant, translucent, brick red.

The aroma is classic old Syrah at its best. I'm not going to try to dissect the components. I'll just say that is exemplifies its appellation and terroir and grape variety.

So now we take a mouthful. Wonderful flavors, with accents of herbes de Provence, that fill the mouth. No discernible tannins (a feature of the wine when it was young). There is apparent acidity, but this isn't a problem when the wine is enjoyed with food or cheese.

The finish goes on for a long time.

Perhaps a bit past its peak, but with at least ten years of useful life left. If you're fortunate enough to have any left, I'd put it on the drink-now list.

Triple Curly with extra woo-woo-woo!!

-Paul W.

[David M. Bueker]

Mmmmmmmmmm

[Jenise]

I can only dream! Lucky you....

1985 Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage

Triple Curly with extra woo-woo-woo!!

-Paul W.

Great note, Paul, so hedonistic!

I was privileged to taste the 1990 Chave in August and the experience was very similar to what you describe, except that I got no feeling that it had started going downhill.
At the same tasting, also the 1990 La Turque was magic...

Cheers,
Anders

I brought a bottle of the 83 Chave Hermitage for the NY crowd last month, great bottle of wine. Glad to hear the 85 is doing so well, I have 2 bottles left. It's too bad that the Chave Hermitage wines have become so CRAZILY priced.

I had a bottle of this years ago, and I am surprised it is still drinking well. It felt like a softer year to me...but hey, 28 years on, doesn't sound so bad!

Mark, you're right--the early line on 1985 in Hermitage is that it was a softer, more forward vintage than the classics such as 1983. And I agree with that view. But it was still packed with fruit and had good balancing acidity. And this has clearly served it well over the years. The fruit has matured into the aromas and flavors that make Hermitage so famous. Tasted on its own, the acidity pokes out a bit. But accompanying food or cheese, you don't notice that--you just get the wonderful complexity.

It reminds me of the 1985 Lynch-Bages. It was delicious on release, and the line was that it wasn't built for the long term. But it was delicious five years out, and it was delicious ten years out. I can't say anything beyond that--I drank all of mine up, and enjoyed every drop.

-Paul W.

Where is that jealousy emoticon?

Mark Lipton