1997 Hermitage Blanc, Jean-Louis Chave (1.5Ll)

Your Price: $249.00

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Vintage: 1997
Format: 1.5L
Wine Name: Hermitage Blanc
Vineyard:
Designation:
Appellation: Hermitage
Producer: Jean-Louis Chave
Varietal: White Rhone Blend
Type: White
Country: France
Region: Rhone
Sub-Region: Northern Rhone
Alcohol:

Tasting note: One of my favorite white Hermitage to drink now is the 1997, which has much in common with the 2000. It is an unctuously-textured, full-bodied white with an evolved personality. However, there is no doubting its user-friendly, forward style or honeyed character. When I arrived at 6:00 p.m., September 11, 2001, at Domaine Chave, I found Chave in tears and his family distraught. I had heard about the attacks on the World Trade Center, but not the subsequent collapse of both towers. Gerard Chave knows all about suicidal bombers, having served in the French military during the Algerian revolution. It took a long time to gather sufficient focus to do my tastings. However, the brilliant wines that unfolded in the cellars were, at least for several hours, a much needed antidote for pushing to the back of my mind the horror of 9-11-01. (94pts. Robert Parker)

Tasted: Apr. 2002
Score: 94
Drink: 2001-13

Tasting note: Deep yellow and smelling a bit oxidized, it's very rich, ripe and very flavorful but lacks class, turning heavy and flabby on the astringent finish. (79pts. PM, Wine Spectator)

Tasted: Jul. 31, 2000
Score: 79
Drink: N/A

Tasting note: Complex, pure aromas of peach, apple, honey, acacia flower, linden and hawthorn. Offers great richness allied with floral lift. Almost miraculously elegant and not at all heavy. Finishes with outstanding persistence-and surprisingly dry given the wine opulence. This actually finished with a bit over two grams per liter residual sugar, said Chave, who added that it might well have turned out topheavy had he fermented with commercial yeasts (the less efficient wild yeasts tend to produce more glycerine and a bit less alcohol). An extraordinary white Hermitage. (94+pts. Stephen Tanzer)

Tasted: Jan/Feb 2000
Score: 94+
Drink: N/A