2017 Ermitage Rouge, Ex Voto, E. Guigal, Rhône

2017 Ermitage Rouge, Ex Voto, E. Guigal, Rhône

Product: 20178116415
Prices start from £231.50 per bottle (75cl). Buying options
2017 Ermitage Rouge, Ex Voto, E. Guigal, Rhône

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Description

The 2017 Ermitage Ex Voto is sturdy, rich and intense, even for Hermitage. Crushed stone and plum notes mark the nose, while the full-bodied palate is tannic and dusty in feel, ending on additional notes of crushed stone, pencil shavings and cassis. Give it a few more years in the cellar and drink it over the next decade or so.

Drink 2025 - 2040

Joe Czerwinski. Wine Advocate (Feb 2022)

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate95/100

The 2017 Ermitage Ex Voto is sturdy, rich and intense, even for Hermitage. Crushed stone and plum notes mark the nose, while the full-bodied palate is tannic and dusty in feel, ending on additional notes of crushed stone, pencil shavings and cassis. Give it a few more years in the cellar and drink it over the next decade or so.

Drink 2025 - 2040

Joe Czerwinski. Wine Advocate (Feb 2022) Read more

Wine Spectator97/100

Exotic, this ripples with warm, well-steeped boysenberry, blackberry and fig fruit flavors infused with notes of dark tea, singed alder and juniper and wild herbs. All the components move in lockstep, and there are lots of components between the fruit, aromatics and extroverted oak treatment, as well as the serious tug of dark earth at the very end, all wrapped in a cashmere texture. Best from 2025 through 2040. 300 cases made.

James Molesworth, Wine Spectator (Dec 2021) Read more

Jeb Dunnuck97-99/100

The 2017 Ermitage Ex Voto shows the sunny, sexy side of the vintage yet backs it up with a dense, concentrated style. Ripe black fruits, smoked earth, toasted bread, and exotic spice all define the bouquet, and it’s full-bodied, structured, and powerful on the palate. Like most 2017s, it’s going to have some early accessibility due to the wealth of fruit, yet it’s going to benefit from 5-7 years of bottle age.

Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com (Dec 2019) Read more

About this WINE

Maison Guigal

Maison Guigal

Guigal is the most famous produer in Côte Rôtie and one of the finest in the Rhône Valley. It was founded in 1946 by Etienne Guigal, following his departure from Vidal-Fleury, where he had worked for just under twenty years. His son, Marcel, joined the company in 1961 and is now the head of the company.

Guigal pioneered the notion of single vineyard Côte Rôties and his 3 most famous wines, La Landonne, La Mouline and La Turque are amongst the most sought after wines in the world today.

Marcel Guigal's attitude to winemaking is typical of the simple genius that one seems to stumble upon when looking at any of the world's greatest winemakers - low yields, organic viticulture and little or no intervention in the cellars - in short, a respect for nature and a passion for the wine itself.

Robert Parker commented on Marcel Guigal that "In the past 20 years I have spent visiting wineries and vignerons, I have never seen a producer so fanatical about quality as Marcel Guigal."

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Hermitage

Hermitage

Hermitage is the most famous of all the northern Rhône appellations. The hill of Hermitage is situated above the town of Tain and overlooks the town of Tournon, just across the river. Hermitage has 120 hectares and produces tiny quantities of very long-lived reds.

The vines were grown in Roman times, although local folklore claims their origins to be nearly 600 years earlier. The name ‘Hermitage’ first appeared in the 16th century, derived from a legend of the 13th century Crusade, involving a wounded knight called Gaspard de Stérimberg, who made refuge on the hill, planted vines and became a hermit.

During the 17th century, Hermitage was recognised as one of the finest in Europe. In 1775, Château Lafite was blended with Hermitage and was one of the greatest wines of its day. In the late 19th century, however, Phylloxera wiped out all the vineyards.

The wines are powerful, with a deep colour and firm tannins, developing into some of the finest examples in France, with the potential to age for many decades. The best Hermitage is produced from several climats or more, blended together. The main climats are Les Bessards, Le Meal, L’Hermite, Les Greffieux and Les Diognieres. Most of the finest climats face broadly south, giving maximum sunshine. Most growers only have one or two climats and they might not complement each other; Hermitage quality can therefore vary hugely. Only the top producers have extensive diversified holdings.

80% of the wine produced is red, however up to 15% of white grapes can be used in the blend. Most growers use 100% Syrah and utilise the white grapes to make white wines only. Chapoutier, Jaboulet and Tain l'Hermitage are the principal proprietors of the appellation’s vineyards.

The white wines are made from the Marsanne and Roussanne grapes. Great white Hermitage can age, taking on the fruit characters of apricots and peaches, often giving a very nutty finish. The best examples in great vintages can last 50 years.

Mature red Hermitage can be confused with old Bordeaux. In a blind tasting of 1961 First Growth Clarets, the famous 1961 Hermitage La Chapelle was included. Most people, including its owner, Gerard Jaboulet, mistook it for Château Margaux.

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Syrah/Shiraz

Syrah/Shiraz

A noble black grape variety grown particularly in the Northern Rhône where it produces the great red wines of Hermitage, Cote Rôtie and Cornas, and in Australia where it produces wines of startling depth and intensity. Reasonably low yields are a crucial factor for quality as is picking at optimum ripeness. Its heartland, Hermitage and Côte Rôtie, consists of 270 hectares of steeply terraced vineyards producing wines that brim with pepper, spices, tar and black treacle when young. After 5-10 years they become smooth and velvety with pronounced fruit characteristics of damsons, raspberries, blackcurrants and loganberries.

It is now grown extensively in the Southern Rhône where it is blended with Grenache and Mourvèdre to produce the great red wines of Châteauneuf du Pape and Gigondas amongst others. Its spiritual home in Australia is the Barossa Valley, where there are plantings dating as far back as 1860. Australian Shiraz tends to be sweeter than its Northern Rhône counterpart and the best examples are redolent of new leather, dark chocolate, liquorice, and prunes and display a blackcurrant lusciousness.

South African producers such as Eben Sadie are now producing world- class Shiraz wines that represent astonishing value for money.

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