2020 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage

Community Tasting Notes (4) Avg Score: 96 points

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  3/10/2024 - Gregboch Likes this wine: 95 Points

  I think this wine taught me about balance in a big wine. At first you wouldn't think about the acidity here, but it's very present and provides balance the bold dark fruit and savory notes. Beautiful.
  Dark purple/indigo in color.
  
  Aroma olive, Boysenberry, blackberry, pepper, cedar, earthy, leather
  
  After being open for a while Blueberry makes itself known in both Aroma and palate
  Flavor Blueberry, olive, pepper, leather. Long finish. Fantastic

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  11/15/2023 - csimm wrote:

  Strict and linear upon opening, with a superficial and lighter bodied entry that keeps the fruit in the higher register red spectrum. Skirts the mid palate and finishes in a blocky and angular drop of unripe red cherry fruit. The tension is serious, gripping the sides of the cheeks with a pucker that holds the tastebuds hostage. Air helps reveal some hints of tilled rocky earth, beef drippings, raspberry seeds, and crunchy red and black cherry, but this is mostly a stern professor with a wooden stick. Almost not fair to judge here in its current state. Hold until Taylor Swift becomes a great grandparent.

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  11/13/2023 - WineBurrowingWombat Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Duck, duck, abortion!; 11/11/2023-11/17/2023: Aromas of eucalyptus, and fresh red fruits with brightness. A touch of bright, sour blueberries as well. This reminds me of a Paso grenache (neon berries, or the Jolly Ranchers artificial notes).
  
  Palate showed dried earthiness, dried jerky, and dark and austere red fruits. This did not show what I thought it would, and it is hard for me to see it getting there.
  
  Day 2 [technically day 3, (bottle recorked, stored in cool temp) did not taste on day 2 but did on day 3]: Aromas showed darker red fruits, with a freshness with the aromas of neon berries/Jolly Ranchers moving more into the background. There are some notes of Iberico ham and red floral notes. A strong scent of dark earth and plenty of dark, wild undergrowth.
  
  Flavors show a bit more of a juicier tartness of dark red berries from a grenache, some graphite, deep earth and dried leaves. There’s notes of dried twig and tree bark as well. Finishes with plenty of tannin like steeped tea, bitter minerals and that dried oak note lingers on.
  
  This showed much better with a ton of slow-ox (corked back and stored upright in a cool area ~56°). I hate saying this but this is gonna take a good amount of time for it to integrate and develop more, guessing around 8-10+ years. It can use a healthy decant if you plan on opening soon.

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  4/9/2023 - acyso wrote: 98 Points

  No. 7248. So incredibly different from the last few vintages. This is distinctively different from all the vintages I've tasted right at release, which I started doing for the 2015. This is far lighter in style, though that is not to say that this is a light wine. After all, this is Chave Hermitage we're talking about here. The nose is stunning, with mostly red fruit, a touch of dried herbs, and already a bit of nascent smoked meat. But it's the palate where this really distinguishes itself -- the light, almost ethereal quality of the fruit here, with its racy acids and most important, an extraordinarily lifted, elegant granitic minerality. This feels like a super amped up St. Joseph (in all the best ways) with a back end intensity that you really only find in the Gonon VV. Silky, non-obtrusive tannins. Perhaps the lightness makes this more approachable now, so it is really no shame nor hardship to open one up. This may not be the longest-lived edition of this wine (though the acids will keep this going for many years anyway), but it is one that reminds me of all the best aspects of 2000, 2004, and 2008, just with more overall intensity.

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