2011 Paul Jaboulet Aine La Chapelle Hermitage (1.5 L) Magnum

Look up at Hermitage Hill, one of the most iconic sites in the world of wine, where the most revered producers all have their family names displayed: Chapoutier. Guigal. And at the very top, Paul Jaboulet Aîné. Last year on our trip to the Northern Rhône, we were honored to visit Jaboulet, and today we’re excited to share the spoils with some of our most dedicated collectors: large-format bottlings of Jaboulet’s pure, majestic, and age-worthy reds. These bottles belong in your cellar alongside your First Growth Bordeaux, prime Super Tuscans, and cult Cabernets. 

First among these cellar showpieces is Paul Jaboulet Aîné’s Hermitage La Chapelle, which Wine Spectator calls “one of the most recognizable names in the wine world.” Sourced from vines at the apex of Hermitage Hill, the 97-98-point 2016 La Chapelle is an instant classic: purple in the glass, with engrossing, intertwined aromatics of blackberry and wild plum with black olive, peppercorn, garrigue, toasted vanilla, pie spice, flint, and wild herbs. With a long and lingering finish built on dense, chewy, and tightly woven tannins, it is sure to mature beautifully over the next two decades plus—especially in double-magnum or six-liter size. 

We also scored the 97-point 2011 La Chapelle in magnum, a “sexy, flamboyant beauty” (according to Jeb Dunnuck) now five years into its evolution. It’s opaque, showing some maturity in its hints of garnet. With tertiary notes of leather, chocolate, licorice, and mature tobacco on top of blackberry, roasted plums, dried herbs, and baking spice, it’s an enticing balance of development and freshness. The palate is complex and evolving, and the incredibly long finish is heavenly now, but hints at another decade of life. 

Finally, Jaboulet’s 94-point 2016 Crozes-Hermitage Domaine de Thalabert, which we also have in magnum, hails from the Crozes-Hermitage domaine that has been owned by Jaboulet since 1834. Situated not far from Hermitage Hill, the site enjoys the same aspect and stony soils, and the wine displays a bouquet of ripe black fruits mixed with new saddle leather, pepper, garrigue, and hints of bacon fat. This ripe, medium-to-full-bodied, silken wine is pure and already complex, and will gain even more character over the coming 10-15 years. Thanks to the site sitting in the undersung-yet-overperforming Crozes-Hermitage appellation, this bottling stands as one of the more stunning Northern Rhône values we’ve seen. 

La Chapelle deserves its position not only among Guigal’s La-Las and other benchmark wines of the Northern Rhône, but the great wines of the world. It’s sourced from the most revered Syrah site on the planet, Hermitage Hill, which we ascended on our visit—first by car, until we got out to summit on foot. From the Chapel of St. Christopher at the top of the hill, you can see far across the Rhône to the west, and down the steep vineyard slopes to the tiny town of Tain l’Hermitage. 

La Chapelle is sourced from the lieux-dits of Le Méal and Les Bessards, two of the most renowned parcels on Hermitage Hill. The extremely granitic Les Bessards produces robust, tannic wines and serves as the backbone of La Chapelle, while richness and fruit come from the looser alluvial soils of lush-producing Le Méal. Jaboulet’s Crozes-Hermitage from Domaine de Thalabert hails from the property’s pebbly Les Chassis terroir, which imbues the wine with a smooth texture and rich, truffle-laden aroma. 

Jaboulet is a mixture of the ancient and the modern: Just over a decade ago, the domaine was purchased by the Frey family (owners of Bordeaux’s La Lagune and Champagne Ayala, and partners in Billecart-Salmon), who have labored meticulously to elevate the estate. They’ve modernized the winemaking and focused on vineyard management, converting some of the domaine’s most famed parcels to organic viticulture.  

After our trip to Jaboulet’s iconic vineyards and sterling winemaking facilities, we tasted at Le Vineum, Jaboulet’s tiny wine bar in Tain l’Hermitage. The iconic reds were spectacular, of course, but we couldn’t help thinking ahead… to pulling them out of the cellar in five, ten, twenty years’ time and reveling in the glory that only bottle age can draw out of Northern Rhône Syrah. We hope you’ll take advantage of this opportunity to reserve that experience for yourself.