2018 M. Chapoutier, Chante-Alouette - Hermitage - 2 Bottles (0.75L)

Maison Chapoutier, undoubtedly one of the best-known names in the Rhône Valley, produces its most prestigious bottles on the Hermitage appellation. The estate stretches over nearly 300 hectares of vineyards converted to biodynamics. To date, it is the largest vineyard in France to have adopted this farming method since obtaining certification in 1999. Chapoutier is often the last to harvest its 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 contours began to take shape, when Polydor Chapoutier bought a few hectares of vines to become a wine producer and merchant. Since then, seven generations have succeeded one another, up to Michel Chapoutier. He now passes the baton 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 Rhone 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, from 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” is composed on granitic sand, and “Chante-Alouette” rests on loess with a clay-limestone layer. The harvest is vinified a third in new barrels and the rest in vats, then aged for about a year. This exceptional white wine develops complex and subtle aromas of quince, ginger, honey, acacia with a note of linden. With remarkable richness on the palate, underscored by a very persistent almond finish, it can age for several decades.