1985 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage

The 1985 vintage brought a lot of people back to the region', says Jean-Louis Chave, and this wine demonstrates why. It has a strong sense of sweet decay to the aromatics, with earthy raspberry and kirsch. It's full-bodied with intense acidity just poking out a little now, but helping to hold it up where the tannins have started to fray. It's still bright and juicy with intense raspberry on the palate along with autumn leaves. (MW)

I finished up my last bottles of 1985 Chave Hermitage a few years back, after having been very happy with the case I bought many, many years ago, but always having the feeling that with each bottle I drunk that the wine had not yet reached its absolute apogee of peak maturity. This is also a vintage of Chave where there is quite a bit of bottle variation, as reportedly, there were three slightly different “blends” produced by Gérard Chave in this year, to match the wishes of his various importers. In any case, this most recent bottle was the finest example of the 1985 that I have ever tasted and fully open and singing, offering up a very complex and red fruity nose of raspberries, spiced meats, pepper, a touch of cocoa powder, bonfires, incipient notes of forest floor, lavender and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and gorgeously transparent, with a great core of fruit, stunning complexity, melted tannins and a very long, tangy and beautifully balanced finish. Makes me wish I was only just starting in on my own case of the 1985!