Is your favorite wine from France's Rhône Valley more expensive these days, even in the midst of a worldwide recession? Don't ask Frédéric Jaboulet to apologize. He's the sixth-generation descendant of Antoine Jaboulet, who founded the chateau in 1834. And
he's still working to improve it.
Jaboulet is taking drastic steps. Doing away with grape and grape juice purchases from other growers to concentrate on grapes grown on the granite and chalk soils of the Jaboulet estate, he has cut production from 50,000 bottles to 10,000. He will make only 15 percent of the usual quantity of wine from the difficult 2008 harvest, selling off imperfect grapes.
"If I want to be at the top, I must make less wine," he says. He poured seven of his wines at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival in Miami Beach in February.
Jaboulet's Hermitage area has a long history. Roman soldiers made wine there. In 1235, knights returning from the Crusades built a hermitage and chapel after which Jaboulet's top wine, "La Chapelle," is named.
In the 1800s, Thomas Jefferson drank its wines. International judges placed the 1961 "La Chapelle'' among the 20th Century's 10 finest wines. In style, Jaboulet seeks complexity and finesse, avoiding the over-ripe fruit so many chateaus use to create the big, powerful wines that please international palates.
In addition to the wines described here, Jaboulet poured the 1991 "La Chapelle''
to show how the estate's wines age – even though it’s not available in shops anymore. It was a superb example. The classic red fruit flavors had evolved into flavors of age -- truffles, barnyard, iodine, spice, leather. The tannins were soft and sweet, fully resolved.
He says his reds can be drunk when purchased, but will improve in 20 to 30 years and that even his whites will be better in 15 years.
"We're making syrah, not shiraz," he says.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
• 2006 Paul Jaboulet
Ainé Hermitage "La Petite
Chapelle'' red wine, Rhône
(syrah grape): classic syrah
flavors of raspberries, licorice
and black pepper; big tannins;
powerful; $85.
• 2005 Paul Jaboulet
Ainé Hermitage "La Cha-
pelle'' red wine, Rhône
(syrah grape): ripe, volup-
tuous black cherries and black
coffee; shifting and complex;
endless finish; $216.
• 2006 Paul Jaboulet
Ainé Crozes-Hermitage
‘‘Domaine de Thalabert''
red wine, Rhône (syrah
grape): mulberries and mocha,
rich and generous, smooth,
intensely fruity, big, ripe tan-
nins, long finish; $30.
• 2006 Paul Jaboulet
Ainé Hermitage "Chevalier
de Stérimberg'' white wine,
Rhône (marsanne, rousanne
grapes): tart golden apple fla-
vors, minerals, powerful, long
finish; $120.
RECOMMENDED
• 2006 Paul Jaboulet
Ainé Crozes-Hermitage
‘‘La Mule Blanche'' white
wine, Rhône (marsanne, rou-
sanne grapes): aromas and fla-
vors of toast, tart apples, min-
erals, cinnamon; $40.
• 2006 Paul Jaboulet
Ainé Crozes-Hermitage
‘‘Domaine de Roure'' red
wine, Rhône (syrah grape):
youthfully lean and austere,
but with hints of red raspber-
ries, spice and minerals, needs
age; $50.
