2016 Domaine Jean Louis Chave L'Hermitage

Other Reviews...
Chave's 2016 Hermitage isn't the most intense or biggest wine this estate has produced, but it's a wonderfully charming, approachable effort from a vintage where quantities were halved by hail damage. Perfumed and spicy, with notes of black olives and black cherries, it's full-bodied, cuddly-soft and velvety in texture, with a long, harmonious finish. I expect it will firm up a little over the next year or two in bottle, but it's delicious now and should mature gracefully for at least 15 years, probably longer. Drink 2020 - 2035.
96+ points
Joe Czerwinski - Wine Advocate (Dec 2019)

Inky ruby. Highly precise, mineral-accented black/blue fruit, exotic spice, olive paste and incense aromas pick up hints of smokiness and candied licorice as the wine opens up. Seamless and penetrating on the palate, offering urgent blueberry, cherry preserve, spicecake and floral pastille flavors and a strong jolt of smoky minerality. Deepens steadily on the strikingly long, penetrating finish, which features smooth, interwoven tannins and resonating florality. Drink 2028 - 2038.
97 points
Josh Raynolds - Vinous

Very floral and just settling in with fresh red cherries and blackberries that have real freshness and definition. Great energy here. Very upright and elegantly focused. Dark chocolate and licorice to close. You feel the granite profoundly here. Try around 2028.
98 points
Nick Stock - JamesSuckling.com

Moving to the Hermitage releases, this always comes primarily from the Les Bessards lieu-dit yet includes smaller amounts from a number of top vineyards on this magical hillside. The 2016 Hermitage is beautiful and shows the classic style of the vintage beautifully. Notes of crème de cassis, hints of blue fruits, violets, and wet stone all emerge from the glass, and it plays in the full-bodied end of the spectrum, with a pure, polished, seamless texture on the palate. It has plenty of tannins, yet they’re perfectly ripe, it has no hard edges, and a great finish. While aromatically it seems to come from a cooler year, it has the sweet fruit and opulence on the palate of a warmer year. It’s a beautiful wine. Give bottles 5-6 years and enjoy over the following 30 years or more. Drink 2020 - 2050.
97 points
Jeb Dunnuck

Youthfully tight, this features a cloak of tarry-edged tannins draped over a core of well-steeped red and black currant and blackberry fruit. Long and driven, with notes of humus, black tea, singed alder and tobacco leaf streaming alongside the fruit from start to finish, this ends with a hint of smoldering cast iron. Reserved in style overall, showing serious latent length and cut, this should cruise and blossom in the cellar. Best from 2024 through 2040.
97 points
James Molesworth - Wine Spectator