M. Chapoutier : Le Pavillon 2019

Racy and vibrant, with vigorous mulberry, loganberry and plum compote notes carried by bramble and tar, picking up sweet tobacco and humus accents along the way. The long finish, marked by alder and smoke, keeps the fruit front and center. Best from 2025 through 2040. 24 cases imported.

This has the silky, flowing, thoroughbred style of Le Pavillon – incredible tannic finesse, but so big and shot through with ripe tannin. The alcohol does peep through a little, it’s just perceptible, but the concentration and tannic load are enough to bring balance. Will be a velvety, opulent treat when it’s ready. But for now, the tannic frame is immense. A statuesque vintage of Le Pavillon.

Very deep black-fruit and bitter-chocolate aromas, but also notes of balsamic vinegar, leather and tar. Very powerful and weighty, but with mineral freshness that keeps it very bright. The enormous, fine tannins are married to very sweet fruit. The brain-rattling intensity at the finish might be too much now, but give it a few years in bottle and it will blow your mind. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification. Drinkable now, but best from 2025.

Brooding ruby. An expansive, highly complex bouquet evokes ripe, spice-tinged black and blue fruits, olive, potpourri, game and incense; a smoky mineral note builds as the wine stretches out. Coats the palate with deep, mineral-accented cassis, kirsch, bitter chocolate and violet pastille flavors that show outstanding definition and developing sweetness. Gripping tannins add shape to an extremely long, mineral-driven finish that emphatically repeats the blue fruit and floral notes.

The star of the show and one of the wines of this great vintage, the 2019 Ermitage Le Pavillon comes entirely from the broken granite soils of the Bessards lieu-dit and was fully destemmed, vinified in concrete tanks, and aged with just 15% new French oak, with a tiny amount in a small foudre as well. The level of new oak continues to plummet at this estate, which a decade or more ago was using 100% new barrels. Full-bodied, concentrated, and powerful, it’s a textbook example of the Iron Fist in a Velvet Glove, marrying incredible opulence with precision and finesse. Offering both blue and black fruits as well as powdered stone, violets, scorched earth, and subtle smoke, this is pure Hermitage magic and Syrah doesn’t get any better. It needs at least 7–8 years (a decade would be better) of bottle age and will be a 50-year wine.

The pinnacle of finesse and elegance, the purity of granite-grown Syrahs on both the nose and palate, aromas of very fresh blackcurrant juice, velvety tannins, and a long finish. In short, a high point, and one that will last. Not a single off note; despite its tannic density, the palate remains fresh—this is the miracle of Les Bessards.

Dense, deep and very sappy, it needs plenty of time. A wine full of potential, with a tight palate and a finish that is still firm.