More youthful and backwards, the 2003 Ermitage L’Ermite has additional minerality, as well as the focus and purity that’s always imparted by this tiny lieu-dit. Inky purple in color, it offers up spectacular creme de cassis, blackberry, charred meats, graphite and toast as well as a full-bodied, massively concentrated profile on the palate. It’s a prodigious, insanely good wine that should be given another 2-3 years in the cellar, and enjoyed over the following two to three decades. Finishing harvest at the end of August, Michel Chapoutier produced a monumental lineup of wines in 2003, and enough can’t be said about the quality coming for this estate. To say I was blown away would be an understatement.

This really shows the vintage's character, with a wall of cocoa, tar and bacony toast covering the exotically ripe plum, blackberry and boysenberry fruit. Dense and muscular, with the power dial turned up to 11, but pulls it off thanks to exquisite balance and cut on the finish. Drink now through 2030. 300 cases made.??–JM??Region: France / Northern Rh?ne / Ermitage Select to Add