Domaine Chave & JL Chave Selection

Ever a humble man, maybe not as reticent and reclusive from the public eye as Jacques Reynaud, Jean-Louis Chave presides over the family Domaine that holds its roots in the Northern Rhone dating back to the fifteenth century. Yikes. Native to the village of Saint-Joseph, which was once considered some of the finest land of the Rhone, they made their name with the Hermitage wines - Blanc et Rouge - and its famed slopes. 

Before we talked at length as a wine culture about the art of blending, the Chave family may as well hold the title of the Dom Perignon of the Rhone - Jean-Louis and his father Gerard did and still do the unthinkable in blending all of their stunning old vineyards into one cuvée (save for select vintages, when a whopping 200 cases of Cuvée Cathelin is released). This is the ultimate example of the sum is greater than the parts, because in tasting the individual plots you would cry out to bottle them separately (as I have pled with several Champagne producers to release the vin clair as a Coteaux, seemingly in its perfect form already). Yet upon tasting the finished product, you know that Syrah has peaked, beyond comprehension. 

Owing to the benefit of ancient vines both white and red (upwards of a century in age, in some cases) as well as artful blending, today both Hermitage wines and the Saint Joseph cuvées represent the very finest of their ilk. After taking over the estate from his father in 1993, Jean-Louis took on a negociant project as well, utilizing purchased fruit from his neighbors' vineyards; over time, as he replanted some of his Domaine's vines and other vineyards came online, the project morphed into almost exclusively wines from his own grapes, incredible quality across the range. 

One of the finest winemakers of our time, to say Chave is a legend is minimizing the point. Only in certain cases across the wine world can you say that a winemaker or a Domaine has held the very best vineyards in their region and crafted untouchable, legendary wines from them; DRC comes to mind, as do labels like Salon, Egon Müller and, well, who else? Include Chave, and that may be your Mount Rushmore.