Hermitage & Crozes-Hermitage

Hermitage is a single hill above the town of Tain — barely 130 hectares — and for much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries its wine was the most expensive in France, more prized than Bordeaux. It was even shipped to Bordeaux to strengthen their wines, a practice openly called hermitagé.

The wine. Syrah of enormous concentration and very long life. Serious bottles need a decade and can run for forty years. Hermitage also makes remarkable white wine from Marsanne and Roussanne, which almost nobody buys and which ages superbly.

Crozes-Hermitage is the much larger appellation on the flatter land surrounding the hill. It is not the same wine — lighter, earlier, less concentrated — but it is a genuine northern Rhône Syrah at a fraction of the price, and it is where most people should start.

Buying advice. A good Crozes from a serious grower beats a mediocre Hermitage, and costs a quarter as much.

Decant 90 minutes for Hermitage, 30 for Crozes. Serve 16°C.

All Rhône

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