Hermitage Chevalier de Sterimberg 2010 Jaboulet Aine

Professionele reviews

Robert Parker (94)

Not surprisingly, the prodigious 2010 Hermitage Chevalier de Sterimberg (about 15,000 bottles produced) is firm and closed, behaving more like a serious red wine than a white. A true grand cru white from the Northern Rhone, it exhibits crisp acidity, lots of tangerine oil, orange marmalade, honeysuckle and acacia flower-like notes intermixed with hints of quince, fig and wet rocks. It would be interesting to place this full-bodied, stunning white in a tasting of Burgundy grand crus.

Readers should not forget the southern Rhone offerings from Paul Jaboulet-Aine that I reviewed in Issue #203 (October, 2012), especially such terrific values as the 2010 Cotes du Rhone-Villages Plan de Dieu Domaine Pere et Fille and the resurrected Chateauneuf du Papes, the 2010 Domaine de Terre Ferme. The Northern Rhone wines reviewed herein reflect the emphasis on building domaine names while not forsaking the negociant wines. The wines reviewed in this report are only the domaine wines where the Paul Jaboulet firm owns the vineyards and harvests the grapes. In Cornas, the Jaboulets own the highly regarded Domaine de St.-Pierre. A second wine, the Hermitage La Petite Chapelle, is now made in order to increase the quality of Jaboulet’s flagship offering, the Hermitage La Chapelle. As for the Hermitage La Chapelle, recent vintages (starting with 2009) have been the greatest wines made at this estate since one of the all-time classics, the 1990. There was no 2011 Crozes-Hermitage Domaine de Roure declared. The white wines from Paul Jaboulet-Aine have also jumped in quality. Keep in mind that the proprietors, the Frey family, not only own Chateau La Lagune in Bordeaux, but are also major stockholders in the impressive Champagne firm of Billecart-Salmon. The 2010 whites all performed well. They are slightly less evolved and precocious than the 2011s, and possess a slightly greater degree of the crushed rock minerality than one finds in the more fruit-driven 2011s.

Winespectator (95)

A beauty, with green fig and green almond notes out front, followed by salted butter, chamomile, quinine and white peach flavors that pump through the finish. Shows great cut and intensity, with taut, finely beaded acidity drawing out the finish.

BOW (7.75)