Chapoutier

M. Chapoutier was founded in 1808 by Polydore Chapoutier in Tain-l'Hermitage. The seventh generation took over in 1990, when Michel Chapoutier succeeded his father Max at the age of twenty-six and proceeded to overhaul everything: converted the entire French estate to biodynamic farming (Demeter-certified), introduced single-vineyard bottlings where the house had previously blended, and repositioned the top wines among the greatest in the Rhône. One of the first major négociant houses anywhere in France to commit fully to biodynamics.

Holdings span roughly 350-380 hectares worldwide. The core is Northern Rhône: Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, Saint-Joseph, Côte-Rôtie, Condrieu. Southern Rhône: Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Also estates in Roussillon, Alsace, Portugal (Douro, with the Symington family) and Australia (Domaine Tournon, Victoria). Syrah for the Northern reds, Grenache-Mourvèdre-Syrah in the South, Marsanne, Roussanne, and Viognier for the whites.

Every Chapoutier bottle carries a label in Braille - introduced by Michel in 1996 as a gesture of inclusivity and a tribute to Maurice Monier de la Sizeranne, the nineteenth-century inventor of abbreviated Braille who had ties to Hermitage.

The key single-vineyard cuvées:

• Le Pavillon - Hermitage rouge, arguably the flagship
• L'Ermite - Hermitage rouge from the summit of the chapel hill
• Le Méal - Hermitage rouge
• De l'Orée - Hermitage blanc, Marsanne
• Les Granits - Saint-Joseph
• La Mordorée - Côte-Rôtie

The négociant range (Belleruche and similar) provides volume. The dual identity is the thing: massive production at the bottom, genuinely great wine at the top. The gap between the two is wide, which is either a flaw or a business model, depending on where you are standing.