1998 M. Chapoutier, Chante Alouette, Hermitage - Hermitage - 2 Bottles (0.75L)

Hermitage Chante Alouette Chapoutier 199
La Maison Chapoutier, undoubtedly one of the best-known names in the Rhone Valley, produces its most prestigious bottles on the Hermitage appellation. The estate spans nearly 300 hectares of vineyards converted to biodynamics. To date, it is the largest vineyard in France to have adopted this farming method since receiving certification in 1999. Chapoutier is often the last to harvest his vines, in order to achieve optimal grape maturity. Chapoutier’s know-how has also extended to other vineyards: Provence, Beaujolais, Roussillon, Champagne, Alsace, Portugal but also the south of Australia.

The family history began in 1808, but it was really in 1879 that its outlines took shape, when Polydor Chapoutier bought a few hectares of vines to become a wine grower and merchant. Since then, seven generations have followed one another, up to Michel Chapoutier. He now hands over to his children Mathilde (in commerce and communications) and Maxime (in the vineyards and the cellar). Together, they continue the family heritage with the aim of highlighting the typicities of the great Rhodanian terroirs.

Read the Journal article on the Chapoutier estate

About the vintage

The white Hermitage Chante Alouette from Maison Chapoutier is made from the Marsanne grape, on vines located under the White House of the same name; the grapes come from three different plots: “Le Méal” is a soil of fluvio-glacial alluvium, “Les Murets” sits on granitic sand, and “Chante-Alouette” rests on loess with a clay-limestone layer. The harvest is vinified for a third in new barrels and the rest in tanks, then aged for about a year. This exceptional white wine develops complex and subtle aromas of quince, ginger, honey, and acacia with a note of linden blossom. With remarkable richness on the palate, underscored by a very persistent almond finish, it can be kept for several decades."