On tasting today FOC at our Bishopsgate shop from noon
What if one of the world's greatest winemakers had a range of wines hardly anyone had heard of? Over six hundred years of farming the extraordinary terroir of Hermitage the Chave family has accumulated a vast amount of intimate knowledge of the dirt there, the vines that grow on it and how to transform this singular fruit into some of the world's finest wines. Though for the males in the family they still seem only to have two Christian names. Jean-Louis Chave, now taken over from father Gerard, has introduced some of his own ideas, including much reducing the use of treatments in the vineyard, but has retained the minimalist winemaking philosophy as well as non-filtration.
The Selection range is made up of fruit that misses the final cut in blending the Domaine's top wines as well as some grown by trusted friends and growers. Although negociant wines, the same amount of quasi-obsessive control is maintained in growing them and the same winemaking techniques are employed too. Quantities are small, even with these wines and they are pretty much reserved for export. The Chave name has such an aura of expense and unobtainability about it that many can't believe these are created by the same man. Our selection of Chave selection is certainly something for Chave fans to be very excited about. /CW
