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Sale
Red
1.5Ltr
Bottle: $528.95 $555.00
This delivers stunningly pure fruit, with silky layers of raspberry, boysenberry and blackberry coulis that cascade...
WS
96
WA
95
Red
3.0Ltr
Bottle: $519.00
The 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Croix de Bois comes from a site on the eastern side of the appellation and, like its...
WA
97
JD
97
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $49.74 $51.60
Blackberries, ripe cherries, Provençal garrigue, sandalwood, and savory flower notes all define the aromatics of the...
12 FREE
JD
90
Red
750ml
Bottle: $19.93
12 bottles: $19.53
Fresh and open, offering fun cherry and red licorice notes, with light plum pit and savory hints along the way....
12 FREE
Sale
Red
750ml
Bottle: $16.12 $17.91
12 bottles: $15.83
Plenty of crunchy red berries and cherries on the nose with dark cherries, dried thyme and peppercorns. Medium body...
JS
90
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $39.94 $41.20
Another beautiful white from the team, the 100% Marsanne 2021 Crozes Hermitage Les Meysonniers Blanc offers up lots...
12 FREE
JD
91
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $595.08 $661.20
Very rich, but racy and well-focused, with a great minerally underpinning to the fresh butter, chamomile, yellow...
12 FREE
WS
97
WA
95
White
750ml
Bottle: $787.95
6 bottles: $772.19
As in 2016, my favorite of the white parcel selections this year is the 2017 Ermitage l'Ermite Blanc (231 cases...
12 FREE
WA
100
DC
98
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $99.94 $105.20
Always a classic Hermitage Blanc, the 2019 Hermitage Chante-Alouette Blanc is all Marsanne that comes mostly from...
12 FREE
JD
95
DC
94
Sale
White
750ml
Bottle: $97.56 $108.40
Brilliant all the way, the 2020 Hermitage Chante-Alouette Blanc is a white readers should snatch up. All Marsanne...
12 FREE
JD
96
DC
95
Case only
Long-term Pre-Arrival
Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $75.29
This shows some of the vintage's raisinlike edge and slightly angular acidity, but the core of mulled damson plum,...
WS
94
DC
93
Case only
Long-term Pre-Arrival
Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $112.46
Even better is the 507-case cuvee of 2009 Chateauneuf du Pape Barbe Rac. One of the wines of the vintage, this dark...
WA
96
WS
95
Case only
Long-term Pre-Arrival
Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $114.90
The 2015 Châteauneuf-Du-Pape Barbe Rac comes from a single vineyard on the western side of the appellation. Made...
WA
96
JD
96
Case only
Long-term Pre-Arrival
Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $94.12
The 2017 Châteauneuf Du Pape Barbe Rac is brilliant and up there with some of the finest vintages to date of this...
JD
97
WA
96
Case only
Long-term Pre-Arrival
Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $79.12
I’d put the 2018 Châteauneuf du Barbe Rac up against anything in this vintage. Coming from 100% Grenache brought...
WA
96
WS
96
Case only
Long-term Pre-Arrival
Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $84.53
Case only
Long-term Pre-Arrival
Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $86.17
At the top end of Chapoutier's Southern Rhône hierarchy are the two sélections parcellaires from Châteauneuf du...
WA
97
JD
96
Case only
Long-term Pre-Arrival
Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $79.94
The 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Croix de Bois comes from a site on the eastern side of the appellation and, like its...
WA
97
JD
97
Case only
Long-term Pre-Arrival
Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $69.45
The 2018 Châteauneuf Du Pape Croix De Bois showed beautifully, with the upfront, perfumed style of the vintage....
JD
97
WS
94
Case only
Long-term Pre-Arrival
Red
750ml - Case of 6
Bottle: $70.28
More framboise, strawberries, dried herbs, and savory, loamy earth-like notes emerge from the 2020 Châteauneuf Du...
JD
97
JS
96

The Rhone region of France is one which is deeply influenced by tradition. With a wine history which stretches back to well over a thousand years, and a consistent degree of excellence demonstrated by their wineries, producing wines which have shaped the drink as we know it, it isn’t difficult to see why tradition is held in such high regard. What is unusual then, is when you find a Rhone winery which, while producing excellent, classic Rhone wines, is also willing to seek out new opportunities and break from the norm somewhat.

One such winery is Maison Chapoutier. The Chapoutier family are a proper, old Rhone clan, who operate on land which has been passed down from father to son since the end of the 18th century. The winery was set up on the ancestral site in 1879, when a set of heritage vineyards were bought and new vines were sown, thus starting the business which continues to this day. The wineries fortunes were mixed, and for much of its history it didn’t make any great waves with their traditional, standard Hermitage wines which were probably very similar to those made elsewhere in the village. However, in the 1980s, the latest generation of Chapoutiers, Michel and Marc, took over the business from their father with a renewed sense of passion and keenness to make their voices heard and their wine tasted across the world.

The results were highly positive, and the Rhone wines of Maison Chapoutier quickly gained recognition for their excellence and complexity. The success of their home produce prompted the Chapoutier brothers to expand their family business, and they soon set their sights on becoming an international company, spreading their unique style - blending Rhone tradition with global sophistication - elsewhere around the world. They bought vineyards in Portugal, and then Australia, and decided to break with tradition completely and turn their farming techniques over to the biodynamic method, which emphasizes using natural cycles of the moon, enriching the soils with various natural components, and trying to be completely harmonious with nature. As such, all of their vineyards around the world are completely organic and biodynamic, and all of their wines are single-varietal - another unusual feature at odds with their traditional roots, where blending is very much the norm. The results more than speak for themselves, however, and Marc and Michel Chapoutier continue to receive awards and recognition for their wines, as they seek to expand further and continue spreading their message.