Yann Chave expresses the Crozes-Hermitage well with Le Rouvre 2014

The Winemaker of Le Rouvre 2014 is Yann Chave, who is recognized as one of the best winemakers in the region. Yann Chave’s wines can be found on the wine lists of fine-dining restaurants and restaurants around the world, such as Alain Ducasse, Paul Bocuse, Pic, Maison Chabran, Troisgros, and others. I purchased this wine in Lyon after reading an article in a local newspaper about a chef’s competition where the winning dish was paired with Le Rouvre 2014.

Le Rouvre 2014 is an elegant wine with a beautiful complexity of aromas on the nose, such as meaty, ripe black cherries, blackcurrant, and freshly picked blackberries. There’s also a flinty note of wet stone after a summer rain. It’s full-bodied, rich, yet fresh, with good acidity, followed by the pure taste of dense black fruit, a note of roasted black coffee and liquorice, and some spicy grounded pepper. The wine has deep, though pleasant, velvety tannins and is very well balanced, with a remarkably long finish.

Le Rouvre 2014 is produced from Syrah vines that are over 50 years old and grown on the Chassis Terraces, the old clay-limestone Rhône riverbed with its rolled pebbles. Yann Chave selects his Syrah plots carefully and only uses native yeasts during fermentation in stainless steel tanks. The Crozes-Hermitage cuvée Le Rouvre ages in new and one-year-old demi-muids, where malolactic fermentation also happens. This wine exemplifies the purest possible expression of its terroir.

Yann Chave was founded in 1970 by Nicole and Bernard Chave after they bought their first 4 hectares of vineyards near the village of Mercurol, east of Tain. From the late ’90s, their son Yann Chave slowly expanded the vineyard area to around 20 ha with vineyards located in the villages of Mercurol, La Roche de Glun, and Pont de l’Isère, and another 1.2 ha on the renowned Hermitage Hill. Since 2007, Yann has been officially organic, and 50-70% of Yann Chave’s wines are exported. And no, Yann Chave is not related to JL Chave, in case you might wonder.

Le Rouvre 2014 pairs well with roasted lamb, roasted duck, a salad with garlic and anchovies, and creamy cheeses like Brie de Meaux or Chaource.