What’s up my name is constantin baum i’m A master of wine a retailer and a Consultant And this is my channel where we are Thirsty for knowledge And wine this series is called the wine Tasting where we do a deep dive tasting Into Some of the best wines in the world and Some wines that might one day Be amongst the best you heard right we Are not tasting cheap and cheerful Back in box wines we are tasting the Creme de la creme Of the wine world i’m super excited Again because we are tasting another Aged wine it’s the 1996 Hermitage limial from chaputi I love my job [Music] Family has a long history in the region Of the northern rhone In 1897 marius chaputi and rudolf de Lepin Founded an exporting company together Called delepin Et chaputi and in 1929 marius chaputi Founded the m chaputi winery at the foot Of the hermitage hill in 1990 michel Chaputi became the head of the winery And he really pushed the sharper tea Winery towards Plot selections biodynamics and Expansion
The background to this transition is Quite interesting a 26 year old Michel chaputi brought out his family And then kicked out all of his family Members including his father That’s a pretty badass game of thrones Move but he explains it by saying That he really wanted to focus on Quality while his family didn’t really Want to focus on quality Anyways when michel chaputi took over The winery they were producing half a Million bottles And they were really struggling today They are producing many millions of Bottles and they are amongst the best Producers In their own miche chaputi really wanted To expand his winery brand across The borders of the rhone and he’s now Making wine In australia portugal spain in the south Of france beaujolais Others and some more regions in the Rowan chaputi really wants to focus on Single grape expressions his quarter tea For example Is only syrah some of his chaturnati Pups are only grenache And the white hermitage for example is Only matsan The best one chapuchi produces are the Single vineyard expressions of the Hermitage hill
And this one is one of them today Michelle’s children maxim And matilde have joined him at the Estate and you might have noticed that The family has a weird obsession with Names starting with m But now let’s talk about the vineyard le Mia the site is part of the hermitage Hill and is considered by many as one of The best Duodes in hermitage yucher chapiti Himself calls it the lafitte rothschild Of the amitaj hill whatever that really Means today the site is certified Organic and biodynamic in the site you Can find terraces composed of Clay and gravel and the vines are pretty Old the average vine age is 50 years And the oldest vines are 90 years old Lemiel is a pretty warm side due to Its southern exposure and you can Produce quite rich and concentrated Wines there As you can see here it’s in the middle Of the urban charge Slope and it’s next to the crew bressa And between greffure At the bottom of the hill and la meet at The top The elevation is around 240 meters above Sea level Soil types have a lot to do with Elevation at the top of the hill where Lay meat is you have
Granitic salts at the bottom of there Where liquid fuel is You have alluvial soils that contain Gravel And clay if you want to learn more about The appellations of The northern rhone then click up here or There For my video on the northern rome so Let’s talk about the wine 96 was actually the first vintage of le Mia And roughly 5 000 bottles of the wine Are being produced Also since 1996 all of chaputy’s wines Have prairie writing on the label this Is a tribute to maurice munir de la Cizaran Was the inventor of the first abridged Brayer writing type the first chaputi Wine that actually had braille writing On the label Was the 1994 you guessed it hermitage La sizan if you can’t read briar just Like me you might be interested In the information that you can find on The label in braille you actually have The information on the producer The vintage the wine and the color of The wine Also special about chaputis wines is That he likes to use The ancient hermitage spelling without The
H so the wine is made from 100 surah Grapes The grapes are harvested by hand and the Yields can be very low Sometimes as low as 15 hectare liters Per hectare the graves are generally Distempt vinification takes place in Open top fermenters And the must is macerated for four to Six weeks In concrete tanks the wine is then Matured for 14 to 18 months In new or one year old berries so let’s Talk about the vintage 96 was a colder Vintage that favored those Who waited with the harvest until the Grapes were properly ripe the wines from 96 are not as concentrated and rich as The wines from 95 for example They are more structured more lively More fresh And they can be really long-lived and Great in quality Just like this one so before we open This bad boy up i just briefly want to Talk about the price I went on wine searcher and checked and If you can find a bottle of this wine Which is a big if You would have to pay 300 so i’m getting Out my Big ass syrah glass and let’s start Tasting So i like to cut off the whole foil like
This This makes it easier in case i need to Decant It’s always super exciting to taste an Old bottle like this you can see that The levels are pretty Perfect i mean for 96 the level is Pretty much Exactly where you want to have it and That might be also because The wine came straight from the producer And then went into storage with a good Merchant who kept it For me so the cork actually looks pretty Much Like it was new which is amazing for Wine this old So let’s try a sip Oh i’m in love i actually thought about Decanting this wine but now i kind of Feel like it’s actually Perfect the way it is it doesn’t need Much more air the wine smells of Blackberries Pepper black olives it also has a gamey Dimension to it Which is quite interesting it’s a Beautiful wine On the palate you still have quite a lot Of freshness Good ripe tannins it’s beautiful and Harmonious but it’s not a Big fat wine it’s more of a fresh and Lively wine
The wine is definitely right in its Maturity window i don’t regret Opening it now but it can wait for Another Five years i guess tasting this wine i’m Starting to feel really hungry but i Think i know What i can do about that [Music] Yes all right And that’s much better so first of all i Need a re-pour I need a little bit more wine to taste That’s for sure And then secondly this is a piece of Lamb and for me Surah and lamb go really well together You could also have a nice piece of Venison for example That matches surah also really well with The old surah i also like Dove game bird pheasant is nice too But yeah lamp is my favorite so let’s Give this beauty Another swirl let’s taste it again Delicious it’s been open for a bit more Than an hour now So it’s opening up really well it’s Getting more and more beautiful there’s More and more Substance coming i still don’t really Believe that you need to decant this Wine i think If you have the time leave it in the
Bottle or in the glass And let it open up a bit more slowly Let’s try the food And wine match now there’s nothing Better than a nice piece of meat That is cooked medium rare Yeah so together with the meat the wine Is a little bit more mellow more rounded And yeah well it’s just two really nice Things together That’s always good so what is my score So this one regularly Gets 95 plus point scores sometimes they Go up to 100 point even And i think the 96 is not quite in the Range Above 95 points jeb dunner for robert Parker gave it 95 points and i actually think it’s a Little bit less than that So i would give this one 94 points Which doesn’t mean that it’s not a Beautiful wine i just don’t think that It’s Quite there yet which might be explained By the fact that it’s the first vintage That chaputi ever bottled nevertheless i Really enjoy This wine and i’m pretty sure that this Bottle won’t last much longer Than the end of the day so if you Enjoyed this video please like it down Here Subscribe to my channel and make sure
That you’re not missing a video because There’s So much more really cool stuff coming up Over the next few weeks and months My question of the day is which is your Favorite charcute wine Please comment down here i hope i see You guys again Pretty soon until then stay thirsty And cheers [Music] You