93 POINTS
Josh Raynolds - Vinous
Glass-staining ruby. Powerful scents of red and dark berry preserves, smoked meat, violet and minerals offer impressive clarity and expand in the glass. Velvety in texture, with deep, liqueur-like red berry flavors, gentle tannins and a strong undercurrent of lively minerals. The smoky note repeats strongly on the lush, seductively sweet finish. Extremely appealing even now, but this really deserves a chance to sleep for at least another decade.
Tightly wound, with a core of braised fig, currant paste and coffee notes held in check by iron and tar. There's rather muscular grip for the vintage, and the long finish shows slightly taut tannins but is a bit shy on depth. Should unwind with cellaring.
90 POINTS
Robert Parker - Robert Parker Wine Advocate
The 2006 Hermitage La Chapelle, which represents only 50% of the production, exhibits elegant berry fruit, incense, licorice, pepper, and tapenade notes. Medium-bodied, but lacking fat, texture, and concentration, it’s an excellent effort, but hardly inspirational. It should be much better once the new winemaking team is fully in charge, and the viticulture totally under control of the Freys.
Readers have to recognize that everything is in a state of transition at Paul Jaboulet-Aine. The Jaboulets sold this old family firm, founded in the early eighteen hundreds, to the Frey family, major investors in the Billecart-Salmon Champagne house and proprietors of Chateau La Lagune in the Medoc. A new winemaking team, which includes the brilliant Bordeaux Professor Denis Dubourdieu for the white wines, has been installed. As these tasting notes demonstrates, they seem to be moving quickly to erase some of the lackluster wines produced from the mid-1990s through 2004. However, much still needs improvement. I suspect, given the Frey’s resources as well as their accomplishments at Chateau La Lagune, this historic firm is in good hands, and the listless quality of these releases will be forgotten very quickly. The red wine portfolio includes some disappointing cuvees, especially the 2005s, which seem to have narrowed out and become harder, leaner, and more austere. The first vintage for which the Frey family had some degree of control, 2006, is a mixed year, but generally the wines are good.
90 POINTS
Robert Parker - Robert Parker Wine Advocate
Jaboulet-Aine’s flagship wine is their Hermitage La Chapelle (their most recent great La Chapelle is the still young and evolving 1990). The 2006 Hermitage La Chapelle is a good wine, although it is disappointing for this extraordinary icon. It offers a deep ruby/purple hue along with aromas of berry fruit interwoven with crushed rocks and cassis. While elegant and attractive, it is undernourished and lacking the gravitas and density one expects from this great name. I have previously documented the decline in quality at this estate following the tragic death of Gerard Jaboulet. That ended in the unexpected sale of Paul Jaboulet-Aine to the Frey family that has done such brilliant work at Bordeaux’s Chateau La Lagune, and are major shareholders in the superb Champagne house of Billecart-Salmon. No doubt they will resurrect the reputation and the quality of the Jaboulet wines, as this was the leading estate in the northern Rhone during the sixties, seventies, and eighties. The Freys have already made some dramatic changes, moving toward eliminating the negociant line of wines, and concentrating exclusively on estate bottled offerings. They own over 120 acres in the northern Rhone as well as 14+ acres in the southern Rhone. The following offerings reflect the recent changes and (more...)
90 POINTS
Robert Parker - Robert Parker Wine Advocate
Jaboulet-Aine’s flagship wine is their Hermitage La Chapelle (their most recent great La Chapelle is the still young and evolving 1990). The 2006 Hermitage La Chapelle is a good wine, although it is disappointing for this extraordinary icon. It offers a deep ruby/purple hue along with aromas of berry fruit interwoven with crushed rocks and cassis. While elegant and attractive, it is undernourished and lacking the gravitas and density one expects from this great name.
I have previously documented the decline in quality at this estate following the tragic death of Gerard Jaboulet. That ended in the unexpected sale of Paul Jaboulet-Aine to the Frey family that has done such brilliant work at Bordeaux’s Chateau La Lagune, and are major shareholders in the superb Champagne house of Billecart-Salmon. No doubt they will resurrect the reputation and the quality of the Jaboulet wines, as this was the leading estate in the northern Rhone during the sixties, seventies, and eighties. The Freys have already made some dramatic changes, moving toward eliminating the negociant line of wines, and concentrating exclusively on estate bottled offerings. They own over 120 acres in the northern Rhone as well as 14+ acres in the southern Rhone. The following offerings reflect the recent changes and a work in progress, with the 2006s still under-performing (the Frey family was not in a position to do much in that vintage). The 2007s are clearly better, and I believe that in a few years, when the northern Rhone has its next great vintage, consumers will see a dramatic increase in quality as the new owners have already brought in the world-famous oenologist, Professor Denis Dubourdieu as a consultant. Any readers who have some of the old vintages of Crozes-Hermitage Domaine de Thalabert in their cellars should be checking them out. The 1978 and 1990 are still brilliant wines, but neither the 2006 or the 2007 will invoke memories of those wines.
90 POINTS
Jeb Dunnuck - Robert Parker Wine Advocate
The first vintage where the new team was firmly in place, the 2006 Hermitage la Chapelle offers that classic, smoky, meaty La Chapelle bouquet to go with loads of fruits, medium to full-bodied richness, impressive mid-palate density and sweet tannin. This was easily the best showing I’ve had from this bottle, which often shows a much more rustic, evolved character.
90 POINTS
Jeb Dunnuck - Robert Parker Wine Advocate
A very different style from subsequent vintages, the 2006 Hermitage la Chapelle is rustic and chewy, with a dry edge to its tannin. Saddle leather, pepper, dried tobacco leaf and dusty spice all emerge from this medium-bodied, solid, but far from inspirational la Chapelle.
Josh Raynolds - Vinous
Inky purple. Wonderfully expansive bouquet of raspberry, cherry and creme de mure, complicated by smoky bacon, incense and Asian spices. Supple and sweet, with palate-staining red and dark fruit flavors complemented by mocha, truffle and black olive. The red fruit builds exponentially through the mineral-drenched, sappy finish. Offers captivating clarity and depth, in addition to outstanding complexity and persistence.
