M. Chapoutier : Les Greffieux 2014

The 2014 Ermitage Les Greffieux offers a big mouthful of fruit as well as a more gamey profile in its black olive, beef blood, smoke and ripe dark fruits. This cuvée comes from the middle of the slope (which is slightly higher up in the Greffieux parcel) and is aged in 20% new oak. Drink this full-bodied, meaty, rich and unctuous beauty anytime over the coming two decades.

Dense for the vintage, but with good restraint, as the core of lightly mulled plum, blackberry and black currant fruit rolls along, flecked with dried anise and mint notes. Shows a licorice root underpinning on the finish, with a frank loamy accent. Best from 2018 through 2030. 10 cases imported.

A spectacular Ermitage for the vintage: it’s ample, chiseled, vibrant, textured and layered. The nose has so much intensity and character, with crushed berries, grilled beef, smoke, bark, undergrowth, roasted peppercorns and hints of polished leather. It’s medium-bodied with finely grained tannins and bright acidity, yet it’s large and rather intense. Vertical succulence brings freshness to the spicy, dense and textured mid-palate. Velvety with restrained power. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification. Drink or hold.

Full bottle 1,394 g. From a site at the bottom of the Hermitage hill, a glacial, alluvial-deposit terrace composed of shingles and clay. Hand-picked, 100% destemmed, vinified in concrete with a long maceration and only free-run juice. Aged for 14 to 18 months in casks, one-third new. Natural clarification and unfined. Certified biodynamic. Mid shaded ruby. Meaty, pungent, classic black-pepper north Rhône nose with a hint of tar and, still, quite a bit of tannin obvious on the palate before a very long finish. Serious wine that's much less expensive than its fellow Ermitage rouges. It's only just approachable, I'd say. Full of beans and potential but not aggressively alcoholic. (JR)

Tasted before bottling. Still the fruitiest of the single-parcel wines on Hermitage (raspberry), its supple, elegant palate has plenty of substance—complete.