The Maison Paul Jaboulet Aîné was created in 1834 through the magical conjunction of a fertile land on a hillside by the Rhone and a family with a passion for winemaking.

Famed through the Hermitage La Chapelle, over the years the Domaines Paul Jaboulet Aîné took ownership of the finest appellations of the northern Rhone Valley, applying organic and biodynamic principles since taken over by the Frey family, ensuring a legacy in both vineyards and incredible wines.

The Maison Paul Jaboulet Aîné was created in 1834 through the magical conjunction of a fertile land on a hillside by the Rhone and a family with a passion for winemaking.

Famed through the Hermitage La Chapelle, over the years the Domaines Paul Jaboulet Aîné took ownership of the finest appellations of the northern Rhone Valley, applying organic and biodynamic principles since taken over by the Frey family, ensuring a legacy in both vineyards and incredible wines.

A legendary cru… Over centuries, this mythical cru has built its reputation on a single hill, and an epic history. In the beginning, the hill was home to a hermitage founded by Henri Gaspard de Sterimberg in 1224. This knight, returning from the Albigensian Crusade, and weary of bloodshed, asked permission to Blanche of Castille to take refuge from the world on the summit of this granite hill. Soon joined by others, the community began to plant vines… A charming tale, but one that overlooks the fact that the Hermitage owes only its name to the hermit: the vineyard has existed since ancient times with the famous wines of Vienne.

After autumn which was pretty wet, in particular with more than 30cm of snow in Tain I’Hermitage in December, the winter was cold and dry. Spring was typical in the Northern Rhône Valley area with summer-like temperatures in the months of April and May. The return of the rainfalls come in June to relieve the young vines which had begun to suffer from the drought. Thunderstorms blew in every 15 days from the month of Septemberittle hail at the end of August. The summer began rather cold in July, warmed up in August and then finished hot at the beginning of September. The harvest began under a shining sun and concluded with dryness after a few rainfalls.

Soil – The Syrah vines are planted in poor and very diverse terroirs. The Bessards with very uneven granite soils, Le Meal with limestone and silica and the Rocoules with limestone and clay. It is the richness of these different exclusive terroirs which provide the La Chapelle with its signature complexity.

Grape Variety – 100% Syrah, goblet pruning on stakes

Age of vines – 40 to 60 years

Vinification – At a perfect maturity, the Syrah grapes are picked by hand, carried in small crates to the winery. They are hand sorted, destemmed and lightly crushed. The maceration on the skin lasts 3 to 4 weeks with daily pump-overs.

La Chapelle is ageing in oak in our cellars for 15 to 18 months. French Oak barrels are renewed 20% every year. The final blend is done after the end of the ageing and done through judicious selection from the terroirs of Hermitage in order to give ‘La Chapelle’ its own personality of power, ageing potential and legend.

More dense, concentrated structured, the knockout 2011 Hermitage La Chapelle, which comes mostly from the warmer, Le Meal Lieut, is up with the top 7 – 8 wines in the vintage. Offering up layers of black raspberry, powdered rock, chocolate, roasted meats, and graphite, it flows onto the palate with full-bodied richness, solid mid-palate depth, and masses of fine tannin that are sweet and polished. Reasonably approachable given the wealth of fruit and texture, it should nevertheless be given a handful of years in the cellar

James Suckling – 92 points

Beautiful aromas of iron, dark friut, plums, tar and dried meats. Subtle aromas. This is wonderfully refined and delicate with blueberry, slate, violet and light black-pepper character. Very refined and beautiful Gorgeous. Delicious now, or hold.

Robert Parker Wine Advocate – 97 points

The first year where winemaker Caroline Frey really feels her organic farming drive paid off, the 2012 Hermitage la Chapelle is a gorgeous effort that shows the purity and texture of the vintage, as well as the class of the le Meal lieu-dit. Offering up classic black raspberry and sweet dark fruit, Asian spice, toasted bread, licorice and savory herbs, this beauty is full-bodied, beautifully concentrated and has enough tannic grip to demand 4-5 years of bottle age. It will have 3+ decades of longevity.

The revamped Jaboulet firm, under the leadership of Caroline Frey, seems to have settled in and are now producing one serious lineup of wines from throughout the Rhone Valley.

Since 2006, owner Caroline Frey has been steadily pushing for increased quality at this historic estate. Moving all of the vineyards to sustainable farming (which takes years to see benefits), both the vineyard and cellar staff have been doubled. In addition, a new gravity operated cellar was set up in 2010. All of this shows, and across the board, the wines have impeccably made, clean and pure profiles. Looking at the individual Northern Rhône appellations, this estate produces four Hermitage (La Chapelle, La Chapelle Blanc, Le Petite Chapelle and Les Chevalier de Stérimberg), four Crozes Hermitage (Domaine de Thalabert, Domaine Mule Blanche, Domaine de Roure and Domaine de Roure Blanc), one Côte Rôtie (Domaine des Pierrelles), one Cornas (Domaine de Saint Pierre), one Saint Joseph (Domaine de la Croix des Vignes) and one Condrieu (Domaine des Grands Amandiers). Looking at 2011, Caroline stated that it was easy to get ripeness, and harvest was early to avoid heat stress on the grapes. Of the three most recent vintages (2011, 2012 and 2013), 2011 had the highest yields, with both 2012 and 2013 seeing a significant drop. I was able to taste a number of these wines twice, once in a larger lineup covering the individual appellations, and again at a tasting at the domaine, with Caroline and oenologist Jacques Desvernois.