The 2021 Ermitage Les Greffieux offers more breadth and richness, with perfumed red and black fruits, pepper, and gamey notes. It doesn't have the density of the 2018, 2019, or 2020 but shines for its balance, purity, and elegance, as well as complexity. This charming, seamless, medium to full-bodied Hermitage is going to drink nicely right out of the gate.

Quite forward and precocious, the 2021 Ermitage les Greffieux offers up scents of pencil shavings and red-berried fruit. Is it a little too cedary perhaps? Often the plushest of the parcel selections, it's medium to full-bodied, ripe and supple, with a long, silky finish tinged with cranberries. No matter how much time one spends with Michel Chapoutier, he always manages to say something surprising. As an owner of biodynamically farmed properties in the Rhône, a participant in several joint ventures, a proprietor in numerous wine regions, owner of a large négociant business and a former president of Inter Rhône (the region's trade body), he has a global perspective that's probably unmatched in the Rhône.(JC)

Elegant, salty and savory, with a core of red currant that shows a subtle meaty edge, plus cured sausage, herbs and licorice root. Shows impressive textural beauty, and its gentle leafiness and wet earth dimension add character. Round in feel, with racy acidity powering the energy. The finish, edged in mineral and smoke notes, shows some length. Drink now through 2040. —K.B.