Domaine Chave Wines

Chave

“The Chave line ... could make a fair claim to be France’s winemaking royal family: in no other of France’s great terroirs is the largest individual landholder so deeply rooted in time and place, so supremely competent, and so modest a custodian of the insights and craftsmanship of the past.”- Andrew Jefford, The New France

If you asked me to look back over my 20+ year wine career and a few bottles that have been tattooed, burned into my palate memory, it would without a doubt be La Forest From Dauvissat, Vaillons from Raveneau, and Hermitage Blanc & Rouge from Jean Louis Chave.

We have an embarrassingly amazing offer of Chave's wines below, from both his JL Chave Selections label, and their Domaine Chave label, including multiple vintages of l'Hermitage blanc and rouge and their rarely seen Saint-Joseph, and magnums!

Domaine Chave has been growing Syrah and making wines from this sacred hill of Hermitage in France's the Northern Rhone since the 1400s. This is 5 centuries of legacy winemaking from terroir that rivals no other on earth. Tradition has never wavered here, and it is so deeply rooted, that even to this day Jean Louis and his son Gerard have yet to make a single cru Hermitage. Instead, they have taken the skills passed down through 16 (!!) unbroken generations of Chave's, and become master growers, blenders, and caretakers of the micro-terroirs that are imprinted in the hills of Hermitage. They make one single bottling of Hermitage blanc, rouge, and Saint Joseph under the Domaine label from these granitic slopes. We see this in many other stark traditionalists, such and Bartolo Mascarello and Giacamo Conterno in Barolo. Each cru for the rouge is vinified separately, and carefully assembled, taking into account the acid, structure, fruit, body, aroma, and tannin of each. The result is year in and year out is one of the most impeccable bottles of wine you will ever come across. The fruit for the Hermitage Blanc, is 80% Marsanne and 20% Roussanne from a single monopole cru called Péléat. To experience a Chave Hermitage Blanc is to experience one of the finest white wines in the world. I have never had my mind blown like I have from an aged Chave Blanc. They are magical.

Over the last 2 decades, the Chave family has grown a bit. Being one of the largest landholders in the area, they decided to create a second, more value driven line under the JL Chave selection label. Here, you will find the same techniques employed, from fruit comes from surrounding vineyards in Saint-Joseph, Crozes-Hermitage, and the Cotes du Rhone Appellation that the Chave's have started to acquire since 2003. Often when we see "second labels" we often consider these the "light" versions of a domaine's wines. Not at Chave. In Fact Jean-Louis spends as much time, if not more, on the quality of his JL Chave selections, and while some of the vines may be younger than those destined for the Domaine wines, these have the Chave imprint all over them. We may even see some of the fruit that did not make the cut for the Domaine's Hermitage and Saint Joseph bottlings make it's way into some of these wines. No matter what, the JL Chave Selection wines are some of the best values coming from this region and the surest way for the masses to experience a Chave wine.

Prices are discounted heavily. No further discounts available.

Wines are very limited. Domaine Chave Wines are just a few bottles or less.

Wines arrive end of week. Shipping and store pickup available.