美味しいワインと出会う旅

エルミタージュ　ル・メアル　ルージュ［2005］シャプティエ（赤ワイン）［S］

これも本物の超弩級ワインですね。

ラトゥールですね。素晴らしい凝縮感です。

05と言う強い年を表現しています。

100年持ちそうですね。

深く濃いガーネット色、香りはタール、ブラックベリー、熟れたプラム、ドライフルーツ、黒トリュフ、濡れた黒い土、味は見事な凝縮感のある果実味、リキュール感があって濃いのに繊細です。こんなに濃いのに舌触りも滑らかでシルキーです。

死ぬ前にもう一回飲んでみたいワインでした。

販売店資料より

2005 Chapoutier Ermitage le Meal

Wine Advocate #175
Feb 2008 Robert Parker 96 Drink: 2018 $167-$514 (180)
There are 481 cases of the black/purple 2005 Ermitage Le Meal. As always, classic blackberry, asphalt, charcoal, and beef blood notes jump from the glass of this intense wine. Full-bodied, with staggering concentration and a personality not terribly dissimilar from a first-growth Pauillac, but showing no evidence of oak whatsoever (and that is in spite of being aged in 100% new oak casks), this wine needs 10-12 years of bottle age, and should keep for 50-100 years.

With twenty vintages under his belt, Michel Chapoutier and his impressive winemaking staff go from strength to strength. These are among the world's greatest wines, especially the single vineyard wines, many of which will last 50 or more years.The 2006 reds from Chapoutier display good acidity and freshness. If they lack the powerful tannic structures of the 2005s, and perhaps some of that vintage's density, they are certainly not light wines. It is a vintage of finesse and concentration, but with considerable up-front charm. Again, 1991 is a useful historic reference. They are the perfect foil for those buying 2005s, which will require deferred gratification. The single-vineyard, or as Chapoutier calls them, the "Selections Parcellaires" wines, are all aged in small barrels, often 100% new oak, and bottled with neither fining nor filtration. Production is relatively small, with the tiniest cuvee, the Crozes-Hermitage Les Varonnieres usually 200-325 cases, and the rest of the single-vineyard wines averaging around 480-625 cases. The largest is usually the St.-Joseph Les Granits or the Ermitage Le Pavillon, which can be as high as 1,000 or so cases in an abundant vintage. Again, the 2005s all exhibit the vintage's density, tannic structure, and long-term aging potential. At the same time, the 2006s at Chapoutier remind me of 1991, initially an underrated vintage of wines with ideal balance. If they lack the pure power and structure of 2005, they are well-served by their purity and equilibrium. There are four single-vineyard cuvees of Ermitage. Production is small, running from about 275-300 cases of Les Greffieux, 480-500 of Le Meal, 800-1,100 for Le Pavillon, and 200-600 for L'Ermite

Wine Advocate #170
Apr 2007 Robert Parker (93-96+) Drink: 2015 - 2057 $167-$514 (180)
The stunningly rich 2005 Ermitage Le Meal boasts truffle-like notes intermixed with roasted meat, blueberry, and blackberry notes, and hints of charcoal and beef blood. Rich, full-bodied, fleshy, but with high levels of tannin and crisp acidity, this is going to be a backward, slow to evolve wine that is going to need 8-10 years of cellaring, and last 50 or more years.