2018 Petit ChablisDomaine Roland Lavantureux
France | Burgundy
$30
Producers
Returning home from a particularly brutal and bloody crusade (even by medieval standards)—over a minor religious squabble and against his own countrymen, no less—a young knight took refuge in a chapel on the top of the hill of Hermitage, far from the village and ruckus below. In an effort to break from the past, the knight planted vines, made wine, and always offered some to religious pilgrims making their way over the hill. Word of the hermit and his wine soon spread, attracting followers who helped expand the operation, and the rest is history. The rocky Pierrelle parcel, also at the top of Hermitage, is a small, lesser-known terroir that offers a wine of great elegance and restraint.
—Chris Santini
Wine Type: | red |
Vintage: | 2018 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | Syrah |
Appellation: | Hermitage |
Country: | France |
Region: | Northern Rhône |
Producer: | Barruol Lynch - Northern Rhône |
Winemaker: | Louis Barruol |
Vineyard: | 30 - 50 years |
Soil: | Granite |
Aging: | Aged on average for 15 months in barrel, no new barrels - barrels are 1 or 2 years old |
Farming: | Lutte Raisonnée |
Alcohol: | 14.5% |
Barruol / Lynch France | Northern Rhône | Hermitage
Barruol / Lynch France | Northern Rhône | Crozes Hermitage
Barruol / Lynch France | Northern Rhône | Hermitage
Barruol Lynch France | Northern Rhône | Côte Rôtie
Barruol / Lynch France | Northern Rhône | Hermitage
Barruol / Lynch France | Northern Rhône | Côte Rôtie
On the wines of the northern Rhône, Kermit wrote in Adventures on the Wine Route, “The best combine a reminder of the sunny Mediterranean with the more self-conscious, intellectual appeal of the great Burgundies farther north, which is not a bad combination.” Like the wines of Provence, Burgundy, and Beaujolais, Kermit was introduced to this region by Richard Olney, an American ex-pat and friend of Alice Waters.
Though technically part of the same region as the southern Rhône and connected by the Rhône River, much differentiates the north from the south. The climate is continental and in general cooler than that Mediterranean climate of the south. The appellations are significantly smaller: Cornas has less than 300 acres planted to vine and Hermitage around 345. The area planted is minute when compared to Gigondas (3,000+ acres) and Châteauneuf-du-Pape (nearly 8,000 acres). Many of the great wines come from steep hillside vines—terraced during Roman times. It was clear to the Romans that great wine could be made here and DNA evidence now shows that Syrah is in fact indigenous to the Rhône.
The terroir is predominantly granite and lastly, blends of the wines are mostly single grape varieties. Only four grape varieties are permitted in AOC blends: Syrah, Viogner, Marsanne, and Roussanne (as compared to the 19 permitted varieties allowed in Châteauneuf). The red wines are nearly all Syrah and Condrieu and Château Grillet must be 100% Viogner. The whites of Hermitage, Saint Joseph, Saint Péray, and Crozes-Hermitages may only be blends of Marsanne and Roussanne.
Lionel Faury France | Northern Rhône | Condrieu
Barruol / Lynch France | Northern Rhône | Crozes Hermitage
Lionel Faury France | Northern Rhône | Collines Rhodaniennes
Barruol / Lynch France | Northern Rhône | Hermitage
Lionel Faury France | Northern Rhône | Saint-Joseph
Barruol / Lynch France | Northern Rhône | Côte Rôtie
Barruol Lynch France | Northern Rhône | Côte Rôtie
André Perret France | Northern Rhône | Condrieu
Lionel Faury France | Northern Rhône | Saint-Joseph
Lionel Faury France | Northern Rhône | Saint Joseph
Barruol / Lynch France | Northern Rhône | Hermitage
Lionel Faury France | Northern Rhône | Côte Rôtie
Let the brett nerds retire into protective bubbles, and whenever they thirst for wine it can be passed in to them through a sterile filter. Those of us on the outside can continue to enjoy complex, natural, living wines.
Inspiring Thirst, page 236
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