Paul Jaboulet Aine, Hermitage, La Chapelle Rouge 2013

Tasted at Château La Lagune, owner Caroline Frey's Bordeaux outpost. One of the legendary wines from Hermitage Hil, La Chapelle comes from pretty much the only spot on the Rhone's Left Bank where you find granite, along with the classic galet stones. The Jaboulet style is to blend their plots from across the hill, resulting in the stunning power of this wine. The complexity here is of the kind that reveals a truly great wine. There are so many things happening, graphite, slate, fleshy layers of blackberry fruits that collide immediately afterwards by a tightly controlled edge of tannins, then the whole thing finishes slowly, cleanly. Incredible.

From a cooler, more challenging vintage for the Rhône, yet one that was certainly better in the north than the south, the 2013 Hermitage La Chapelle reveals a vivid purple hue as well as beautiful, cooler climate black raspberries, mulberries, white pepper, crushed stone, and spicy, sandalwood-like aromas and flavors. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it exudes class and elegance, with silky tannins, perfect balance, and a great finish. I can't say it's a classic La Chapelle, as the usual smoky, meaty, soy-like nuances are missing, but this is just a complete, gorgeous Hermitage that will evolve gracefully over the coming 20-25 years.

Bright purple. Sexy, highly perfumed scents of ripe boysenberry, cherry cola, smoky Indian spices and potpourri take on a vibrant mineral quality in the glass. Smooth, expansive and impressively deep, showing a surprisingly delicate touch to the sweet black and blue fruit, floral pastille and spicecake flavors. Smooth, slow-building tannins come up slowly and add focus to an extremely long, juicy, mineral- and floral-driven finish.