Oops! Almost forgot to post these notes from the Michel Chapoutier tasting last week at Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant. FPWM does a great job of bringing in great producers every Wednesday night from 4:30-7:30PM. I highly recommend checking their schedule and stopping by if you're in the area.

I've tasted with Michel several times now and I believe the wines are better today than when I first started tasting them 13 years ago. In his book, The New France, Andrew Jefford puts the turning point at 1987 when Michel and his brother Marc took over from their father Max. He called the improvement "dramatic: almost all of the wines have acquired more depth...although inititially too much depth, a kind of manic depth based on late-harvest frenzy and forests of new oak". I still found a couple of the reds very oaky, so much so that I doubt you'll see them offered here. But the quality is undeniably high and I really loved the mid-tier Crozes-Hermitage Blanc "Petite Ruche"; my favorite wine that day with unusually bright acidity and freshness for this appellation. The notes below represent just a small sampling of the Chapoutier range, this négociant-éleveur produces wine in both the Southern and Northern Rhône, Southern France, Portugal and Australia.

2008 M. Chapoutier Crozes-Hermitage Petite Ruche

2006 M. Chapoutier Hermitage Blanc Chante-Alouette

2007 M. Chapoutier Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Bernardine

2006 M. Chapoutier Hermitage La Sizeranne

2007 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Le Pavillon