Wine Spectator 96 points - Tightly wound, with a mix of loganberry, blueberry and blackberry fruit all laced with espresso, loam and black tea hints. The dense, graphite-filled finish has a lot of unwinding to do. Best from 2011 through 2025. 1,177 cases made. –JM
(Jun 15 2009)
Wine Advocate 97 points - There are nearly 1,200 cases of the 2006 Ermitage Le Pavillon. Since Michel Chapoutier released his first full vintage, 1989, of this single vineyard Hermitage, it has been one of the great wines of both France and the world. The 1989 and 1990 remain very young wines (I had them over the holiday break and was amazed by their still youthful personalities.). The inky/purple-hued 2006 exhibits a gorgeous perfume of crushed rocks, white flowers, creme de cassis, blackberries, graphite, and a subtle touch of oak. Exceptionally full-bodied, multilayered in concentration, extraordinarily pure, and long, this is a prodigious young Hermitage that should be at its finest between 2018-2050+. (Apr 2009)
This rarity (only 600 cases produced annually, from 4 hectares) comes form the granite soils of the "lieu-dit" Les Bessards. Its vines are positioned at a lower-altitude band of the Hermitage hill, at approximately 130 meters, above the ruins of a stone house which gives it its name. The tiny yields here (20 HL/HA) and a fermentation regimen of avoiding stem contact in a 24-28 day maceration, make this a deep, brooding, yet supple wine. Its aging capacity is easily 80-100 years, but its style is much more approachable than the traditional wines from this parcel. It has taken the lead postion as M. Chapoutier's vintage statement for well over a decade.
