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.

The first vintage of this cuvee was 2001, renamed the Maison Bleue in 2015 and taking its name from our little stone house used as a shelter to winegrowers located at the heart of the Murets.

Soil – Produced on the most easterly vineyards of the hill, where soils are deeper, less stony and, slope flatter, ‘La Maison Bleue’ refers to our charming stone house used as a shelter to winegrowers at the heart of the Murets. The great terroirs surrounding the house provide a stately view over the whole Hermitage. The terroir of the Dionnières brings finesse which harmonizes with the mineral side of the Murets and the vines de La Croix ripeness. It is the richness of these different terroirs that provides our Hermitage ‘La Maison Bleue’ with its complexity.

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 slightly crushed. The maceration on skin lasts for 3 to 4 weeks with daily pump over

Grape Variety – 100% Syrah.

Age of the Vines – 40 to 60 years

Ageing – ‘La Maison Bleue’ is aged in oak in our cellar for 15 to 18 months. Oak barrels are French and are renewed at the level of 20% every year. The final blend is done after the end of the ageing

It offers a rich, opulent, incredibly sexy style as well as full-bodied notes of black raspberry, blackberry jam, toasted bread, and spice. With tons of sweet fruit, no hard edges, and a great finish.

Matching Food and Wine – Quail stuffed with foie gras, Duck breast with cherries, Milk-fed lamb en croûte de foin.

Serving Temperature – 16° to 18°C. Best Enjoyed Within 10 to 25 years

Robert Parker Wine Advocate – 95 points

Jaboulet’s 2017 Hermitage La Maison Bleue is flat-out sexy stuff, full-bodied, plush and generous without being overripe or unstructured. Licorice, cassis and Asian five-spice powder burst from the glass in a complex whirl of scents and flavors. Sourced from the eastern end of the appellation, it offers immediate gratification and admirable quality at a fraction of the price of the La Chapelle.

With properties now in Bordeaux (Château La Lagune), Burgundy (the former Château Corton André) and Switzerland (she purchased a vineyard in the Valais in 2016), proprietor Caroline Frey is increasingly drawn in different directions, so I was fortunate to be able to sit down with her for a few hours at Michelin-starred Maison Chabran in nearby Pont de l’Isère. She brought representative barrel samples of the 2018s, plus the bottled 2017s, which we tasted through before dining. This year, Frey was excited to show me the 2017 Côtes du Rhône Parallele 45, which is now made using only organic grapes. At up to two million bottles (red, white and rosé) per year, that’s no small achievement. But as always, we spent the most time on the wines produced from the firm’s own vineyards, which are all farmed biodynamically. Frey explained that they cannot be certified, as the winery also processes grapes and wines from the négociant operations. The grapes are all destemmed, although she said they will experiment with whole clusters. “When we did it in 2013, for me it was not OK,” she said. She has begun doing more pigeage (punching down) in the winery, versus just remontage (pumping over). “We have good results on the texture—fleshier.” The glory of Jaboulet is the legendary Hermitage La Chapelle, which is finally reflecting all of the hard work put into the vineyards by the Frey family and the Jaboulet team. “We still have many things to do,” said Frey. “But I think in the past 13 years we’ve come a long way.”

James Suckling – 94 points

17 Jul, 2019 – This is utterly delicious and has a very plush and sweetly fruited core of flavor with a sweepingly fleshy, rich and quite plush feel. The tannins are very fine here; sleek and assertive, they seem to suggest early drinking. It’s so balanced, too. However, this deserves to be reserved for later, as there’s a lot more to come. Try from 2024.