Surely a 100-point wine in nearly any other context, the 2015 Ermitage le Pavillon is a terrific wine. Full-bodied and intense, it offers tremendous notes of crushed stone, mocha and ripe plum given shape and texture by powerful yet ripe tannins. The finish is nearly endless, oozing with essence of granite and balanced by bright acids. Wow.

Vivid purple. Powerful, intensely perfumed black raspberry, cherry liqueur, incense and licorice aromas, along with hints of star anise and vanilla. Sweet, penetrating and focused on the palate, offering deeply concentrated but energetic red and dark berry liqueur, floral pastille and succulent herb flavors that show outstanding power and definition. Smoothly plays richness and power off finesse and finishes extremely long and sweet; fine-grained tannins come in late.

Only a quarter of the hill of Hermitage, its western flank, is composed of granite. The lieu-dit Les Bessards covers most of this terroir and that’s where the vineyards of Chapoutier’s Le Pavillon are located. It typically produces Syrahs that are less fleshy compared with Le Méal; instead, they emphasise tension, salinity and structure. In 2015, both cuvées offer a classic expression not only of Hermitage, but of their respective vineyard sites. Matt Walls: Huge, soaring tannic structure, saline and grippy. Bold, ripe fruit expression and incredible length. Cleansing and fresh, with granitic tannins. A force of nature. Gearoid Devaney MS: A classical, inviting, perfumed nose with dried herbs and ripe fruits. A lush mid-palate, fine-boned tannins and a long finish. Fiona Hayes: Coffee, smoky and savoury. This is showing plenty of development. The tannins are still a bit dominant, with firm grip on the finish, but decanting should help.

Full bottle 1,391 g. Hot, dry vintage. From Les Bessards on rocky soil composed of poorly decomposed Tournon granite. Coarse-grained granite, black mica and fractured quartz inclusions. Hand-picked at optimal ripeness. Vinification in small concrete vats after destemming. Fermentation with indigenous yeasts and moderate use of sulphur. Maceration for 3 to 4 weeks. Aged 18 to 20 months in barrels and small casks, with an average of 15% new barrels. Shaded garnet. Still youthful. Very meaty and savoury with tannins still obvious. Long and grainy-textured. I'd wait another five years before broaching this. (JR)

Another perfect wine, the 2015 Ermitage Le Pavillon comes from the Bessards lieu-dit on Hermitage, which is pure granite soils. I've said it before, but will say it again, this is unquestionably the finest, most singular vineyard for Syrah in the world. Cassis, graphite, smoked herbs, liquid rocks and violet aromas give way to a huge, concentrated, opulent and off-the-charts beauty that just hints at its ultimate potential. I wouldn’t think about opening bottles for at least a decade, after which it will keep for 4-5 decades. - Jeb Dunnock, jebdunnock.com, January 2018

Another perfect wine, the 2015 Ermitage Le Pavillon comes from the Bessards lieu-dit on Hermitage, which is pure granite soils. I've said it before, but will say it again, this is unquestionably the finest, most singular vineyard for Syrah in the world. Cassis, graphite, smoked herbs, liquid rocks and violet aromas give way to a huge, concentrated, opulent and off-the-charts beauty that just hints at its ultimate potential. I wouldn’t think about opening bottles for at least a decade, after which it will keep for 4-5 decades. Enough can’t be said about the quality coming from the estate of Michel Chapoutier. Taking over the domaine from his father in the late 1980s (his first vintage was 1989), Michel quickly moved the estate completely to bio-dynamic farming as well as building a new, state of the art winery located just outside of Tain l’Hermitage. These are classic, traditionally made wines that are never acidified (or chaptalized), are brought up mostly in demi-muids (with plenty of used oak), and bottled unfined and unfiltered. He also continues to grow the brand (this is easily one of the largest tastings I do every year from a single producer) and has added two new Côte Rôties in 2015, the Quatrain and Neve cuvees. The Quatrain is reserved for grapes that didn’t make it into the selection parcellaire releases, and the Neve comes from a single parcel in the northern part of the appellation. Both are impressive wines, although I don’t envy anyone trying to explain the full portfolio to buyers in the market. In addition, while it’s easy to focus on the top cuvées from this estate, the portfolio is packed with incredible values at just about every price point. These reviews focus on the 2015 and 2016 vintages, with all the 2015s tasted out of bottle and the majority of the 2016s still resting in barrel. The 2015 vintage is a monumental one for this estate and matches (and in a few cases, eclipses) what was accomplished in 2009 and 2010. These are ripe, concentrated, structured wines that are going to demand cellar time. In contrast, the 2016s are more elegant and silky, with terrific purity of fruit. They don’t have the sheer grandeur of fruit found in the 2015s, yet are seriously concentrated and have no shortage of tannins and structure.