1996 Hermitage Vin de Paille

Although the Chaves are justly proud of the rich, stylish red wine they have in the works in 2000, Jean-Louis Chave told me that this vintage is almost more of a white wine year than '99. "In '99, white Hermitage is fat and powerful, but without quite the same balance as in 2000," he explained. "In contrast, 2000 has stuffing and fat but also great suavity, which will allow the wine to express itself sooner." High yields were not a factor at this address in 2000: the Chaves made one-third less wine than in the previous year, according to Jean-Louis. Nineteen ninety-nine yielded wonderful wines here, despite the fact that the domain did not make a separate Cuvee Cathelin bottling. Jean-Louis was moderately concerned that some observers would think this decision meant that the Chaves considered '99 to be less than outstanding. On the contrary: the issue in '99 was that virtually all of the family's lieux-dit produced very rich, rather powerful wine, with the vintage character partly overshadowing site specificity. Under the circumstances, Jean-Louis explained, the Chaves would not have been able to make a special bottling that was markedly different in style from the rest. In '98, in contrast, it was possible to make a Cathelin with significantly more refinement than the regular cuvee

This is a vintage "at the extreme of richness," says Gerard Chave about 1997. The red Hermitage will be fat and multilayered, while the white will be one of the top examples made here in the last 20 years. Despite healthy yields roughly the same as those of the previous year, the white grapes got an almost passerille concentration in '97, said Chave, who was cagey about the possibility of some sort of special white wine cuvee being made this year. These very rich wines fermented slowly, with some cuvees not finishing until late last summer. "Did you block the malolactic fermentation in the '97?" I asked. "Never," replied Chave; "When you block the malo the wine never develops the same interesting secondary and tertiary aromas--the malic acidity blocks these aromas." For the long-term development of this wine in bottle, adds Chave, gras and glycerol will take the place of acidity. Gerard and Jean-Louis Chave also staged a remarkable vertical tasting for me in early December, the results of which will be published in an upcoming issue.