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A blockbuster red wine, delivering heavyweight power with amazing finesse. Thick, ripe, rich and superextracted, it's inky-dark, full-bodied, tastes of the earth, cassis and blackberry, mocha and spice, ink, iron, mineral and blood, with a massive amount of full, ripe and sweet tannins. A monumental effort from the Northern Rhône. Best from 2005 through 2020. 500 cases made. —Wine Spectator | 98 WSThere are three luxury cuvees of Hermitage in 1996. A new cuvee, and potentially a perfect wine, is the 1996 Hermitage l'Hermite. Three thousand bottles are produced from a small parcel of old vines (believed to be over 100 years old) located close to the tiny white chapel on the steepest part of the Hermitage hill. Yields were 9 hectoliters per hectare. A totally different expression of Hermitage, this is a blockbuster, dense, chewy, highly extracted, monster Hermitage the likes of which consumers and professionals rarely encounter. The opaque purple/black color, gorgeously sweet nose of minerals and cassis fruit, unctuous texture, and thick, brooding power and richness is the stuff of legends. However, this wine is extremely high in tannin, and has tangy acidity (a hallmark of the 1996 vintage), so it will need a minimum of 10-15 years of cellaring. Are readers paying attention? Anticipated maturity: 2010-2040.Robert Parker | 96-100 RP(Maison Chapoutier Hermitage L'Ermite) Deep ruby-violet color. Liqueur-like aromas of kirsch, smoked meat, licorice, minerals and cocoa powder. Great sweetness on entry, then completely wrapped up in its structure. But this wine is fat and packed with black fruit and violet flavor. Powerful tannins are a bit dustier than those of Chapoutier's '96 Ermitage Le Pavillon. At once large-scaled and quite refined. Impressive.Vinous Media | 92-95 VM

The 1998 Ermitage Le Pavillon flirts with perfection ... again. Revealing a striking bouquet of violets, blackberries, smoke, licorice, and minerals, it is luxuriously rich, full-bodied, and layered on the palate. It is a wine with a finish that lasts beyond a minute. Remarkably, yields were a mere 10 hectoliters per hectare. There is plenty of tannin in the finish, but it is ripe and well-integrated. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2050.Robert Parker | 98 RPFresh ruby-red. Fruit-driven, very primary aromas of cassis, wild cherry, leather and pepper. Lush, rich and deep; showing more sweetness and texture today than the more backward Meal. This large-scaled wine has superb density and clarity of flavor. Finishes with big, ripe tannins and outstanding length. Perhaps more complete than the Meal.Vinous Media | 94 VM

A wine that flirts with perfection is the inky and opaque 2009 Hermitage Domaine des Tourettes. Coming from L'Ermite, le Sabot, and Les Bessards, and aged in a combination of new and used French oak barrels, it gives up a heavenly bouquet of crushed rocks, blackberries, leather, wild herbs and earth. Massively concentrated on the palate, with another level of fruit and texture over the 2010, it has brilliant purity, building tannin and a blockbuster finish. There's enough tannin here to warrant hiding in the cellar for 4-5 years, but it should last for 3-4 decades.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 98 RPMuch more structure, smoky, and concentrated, with a burly feel, the 2009 Delas Frères Hermitage Domaine des Tourettes delivers a serious array of blackberry, graphite, mineral, cedar, and charcoal that gives way to a full-bodied, dense, almost painfully structured palate. Fleshing out in the glass, this rock star Hermitage has a deep, layered mid-palate, integrated acidity, and masses of tannin on the finish. This needs time. Give bottles 5-6 years in the cellar, and then plan on drinking over the following two decades!Jeb Dunnuck | 96 JDVery rich, with layers of creamed pear, green fig and Jonagold apple cascading over blanched almond and melon rind notes. The long finish lets hints of honey and blanched almond slowly take over, with impressive length. Not imported into the U.S. Drink now through 2022. 830 cases made.Wine Spectator | 94 WSInky purple. Deeply pitched aromas of cherry and cassis, with licorice and black pepper nuances adding complexity. Chewy and dense, offering bitter cherry and dark berry flavors lifted by a spicy note on the back half. Finishes with gentle tannic grip and persistent spice and smoke notes. Give this masculine, brawny wine at least a few more years of bottle age.Vinous Media | 91+ VM

A perfect wine in every way, the 2015 Côte Rôtie La Turque comes from an incredible terroir on the Côte Brune and includes 7% Viognier. Stylistically, it normally fits between the more ripe, exuberant La Mouline and the more austere, tannic La Landonne. A deep purple color is followed by extraordinary notes of spring flowers, crushed violets, vanilla bean, and cured meats. This gives way to a full-bodied Côte Rôtie that has a stacked mid-palate, lots of ripe, silky tannins, no hard edges, and a finish that won’t quit. Syrah, or red wine for that matter, doesn’t get any better! Hats off to the Guigal family for another magical wine. Give bottles 6-7 years of bottle age and enjoy over the following 30 years or more.Jeb Dunnuck | 100 JDLike the La Mouline, the 2015 Cote Rotie La Turque comes across as slightly closed—I wouldn’t be surprised to see it inch up to a perfect rating in a decade or so. Lashings of ground spices—pepper, allspice, cardamom—are sprinkled over mixed berries, but this full-bodied wine is locked up tight, finishing with firm tannins. Give it at least 5-6 years, maybe even a decade or so, before pulling a cork.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 99 RPDark plum, boysenberry and fig fruit is steeped with notes of anise, black tea, ganache and roasted apple wood. A warm cast iron spine drives the finish, pulling all the components together along the way. Delivers serious cut and drive, holding a deep well of fruit in reserve. Best from 2025 through 2045. 88 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 99 WSThe personality of this wine is in full, flamboyant flight in 2015 with such expressive aromas of fragrant spices, roses and violet flowers, orange zest, white pepper, dark stones, exotic baking spices and beautifully ripe blackberries, blood plums and some redder fruit notes. The palate delivers plenty of energy and depth with ripe, dark and juicy tannins, wrapped around a very rich, intense and fleshy blackberry core. Impressive and still just a baby. Try from 2026.James Suckling | 98 JSSaturated purple. Hugely perfumed aromas of dark berry preserves, incense, potpourri, smoky bacon and spicecake. Cola, olive and cracked pepper flourishes build with air. Youthfully and broad in the mouth, offering deeply concentrated, sharply defined black/blue fruit, spicecake, vanilla and violet pastille flavors that are brightened by a smoky mineral accent. Chewy and appealingly sweet on the extremely long, floral-dominated finish framed by youthful, slow-building tannins.Vinous Media | 97 VMA darker, deeper, slightly more meaty style compared to La Mouline, the oak here more powerfully evident. Very grippy, very tight tannins. The alcohol feels a little raised, but generally there is a good balance between darks fruits, acidity and tannin, and the wine has great freshness, length and depth. Aromatically and texturally, the wine is dominated by oak at this early stage, though this aspect will soften and meld to some extent as it matures in bottle. Very long, juicy, intense finish. Fermented in stainless steel, 40 months in new French oak barriques. Drinking Window 2027 - 2039Decanter | 95 DEC

Just about pure perfection and one of the finest Condrieu to pass my lips, the 2020 Condrieu La Doriane offers an insane bouquet of grilled pineapple, charcoal, crushed stone, acacia flowers, and white peach. It picks up an incredibly sense of salinity on the palate and is full-bodied, has blockbuster concentration, remarkable purity and focus, and a great finish. I like this beast/beauty today, but it will keep for a decade.Jeb Dunnuck | 99 JDFull-bodied and very rich, but there's plenty of salinity to balance the oak work, which is robust but very high quality. Fresh and drinkable already, as flamboyant as ever and with a long finish. From lieux-dits Chatillon, Chéry, Vernon, Colombier and Château de Vallon in Malleval (where soils are granite with iron oxide). 100% new oak barriques. Drinking Window 2022 - 2030.Decanter | 95 DECWhat a fascinatingly smoky and flinty nose this Condrieu has! I love the touches of vanilla bean, mandarin orange peel and jasmine that emerge as you swirl the glass. It masters a remarkable balance on the expansive and subtle palate, a hint of bitterness helping to balance the softness and creaminess of the long finish. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 95 JSWhile the 2020 Condrieu la Doriane matured entirely in new oak, there's just a hint of toast on the nose. The rest of the bouquet features a kaleidoscopic swirl of floral and spice notes with melon and white peach. Medium to full-bodied, it's exquisitely expansive and silky in texture, yet it remains refreshing on the lengthy, mouthwatering finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93 RP