Floral and fragrant on the nose, so beautifully expressive and inviting. Clean and clear, so smooth and seductive with strawberry, cherry and raspberry with soft florality and a tight, wet stone, slate edge giving an iron and mineral tang. Hints of blood orange - bitter zest - with clove and wood spice, pepper tobacco and liquorice too. Fun and friendly, packed full of flavour with lovely, well-integrated tannins, barely there, all the flavour and concentration is coming from the fruit. Not the most expansive or rich, this is lighter and more delicate despite the overall sense of heat and spice and fruit. Long finish, with clear terroir markers. Well defined with a sense of refinement. 3.74pH. Ageing for 12 months in French oak barrels (15% new), and in natural concrete eggs with malolactic fermentation. The first time this historic wine by Caroline Frey will be sold on the Place de Bordeaux.

First time on the Place for this iconic wine from Caroline Frey, with a long and illustrious history in Hermitage. Glorious even in a challenging vintage, with the oh so slow release of cut herbs, sour cherry and raspberry flavours, white pepper spice, fragrant peony and iris flowers, both fragrant and gentle, all bound up with fine tannins. Leaning into the gentle pleasures of the vintage. New label also.

The flagship 2021 Hermitage La Chapelle (which is now released under the "Domaine de la Chapelle" label) was vinified in stainless steel and aged in 15% new barrels, with 10% in concrete eggs. It has an almost Côte Rôtie-like elegance and has perfumed aromatics of red and blue fruits, peppery herbs, smoke, and sappy, minty herbs. Medium-bodied and nicely balanced, with fine-grained tannins, it has solid underlying depth and structure, and warrants 4-5 years of bottle age. It will have 15+ years of prime drinking. The big news at Paul Jaboulet Aine is the splitting of their flagship Hermitage La Chapelle and their Le Chevalier De Sterimberg into their own separate label, Domaine De La Chapelle. All of the remaining releases remain under the Paul Jaboulet Aine label in this report.

NB name change from this vintage (no longer Paul Jaboulet Aîné). 100% Syrah. Harvested 26 September to 7 October. Cool and wet vintage. Alcoholic fermentation for around 10 days at 22–28 °C, with yeasts indigenous to the northern Rhône, with gentle punching down and pumping over. Post-fermentation maceration for around 2 weeks then ageing for 12 months in French oak barrels (15% new) and concrete eggs. Certified AB organic and ‘cultivated according to biodynamic principles since 2018’. The fruit is slightly muddled on the nose at this stage, masked by stubborn reduction that is unpleasantly sulphurous – one hopes this will fade with bottle age. The palate shows delicate but candied notes of red fruit. Tangy, with a sweet profile oddly reminiscent of Grenache rather than Syrah. The structure is fine, with lightly sandy tannins and pristine, vibrant acids. Hopefully just in an awkward stage. (TP)