Hermitage La Petite Chapelle

Quail stuffed foie gras, duck breast with cherries, milk-fed lamb en croûte de foin.

The month of January is mild but temperatures fall in February for 15 days it is cold- 10 degrees. Regular rains water the vineyards from March to July. Initially, mild temperatures are recorded in May. In July the climate warms and it becomes hot in August. A few stormy rains temper this heat. It is very pleasant in September until the 28th when heavy rains compel us to delay harvesting for a few days. The harvest concludes on the 8th of October with no further rains.

La Chapelle is aged in oak in the cellar for 15 to 18 months. Oak barrels are French and are renewed at the level of 20% every year. The final blends are done after the end of the ageing and done through judicious selection from the different terroirs of Hermitage in order to give La Chapelle its own character of softness, texture and balance.

At perfect maturity, the Syrah grapes are picked by hand and carried in small crates to the winery, the grapes are hand-sorted, destemmed and slightly crushed. The maceration on the skin lasts 3 to 4 weeks with daily pump-overs.

In 1834, when Antoine Jaboulet set up his business in Tain l’Hermitage with the aim of producing great wines, he saw his future profession as cultivating the vineyards and maintaining the quality of the land. It was with this mindset that he quickly acquired his first vineyards on the Hermitage slopes and the Crozes Hermitage plains. In 2006, the Freys (owners of Chateau La Lagune in Bordeaux) took over Paul Jaboulet Aine, where winemaker Caroline now works with her teams in a single-minded quest for perfection; combining cutting-edge winemaking with the scrupulous care given to vines grown in exceptional terroirs. They have since also acquired vineyards in the appellations of Cote Rotie, Condrieu and Crozes Hermitage. All estates are now certified organic and the team broadly follow bio-dynamic principles. Jaboulet’s most celebrated wine is its famed Hermitage La Chapelle, named after the chapel that overlooks this most celebrated of vineyards. Jaboulet have owned the chapel since the end of the First World War – it’s an icon of this part of the Rhone Valley and marks where the best vines are grown.