Hermitage AOC

Northern Rhône Valley, France

Hermitage is a French wine Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) in the northern Rhône wine region of France. It produces mostly red wine from the Syrah grape but small quantities of white wine are also produced from Roussanne and Marsanne grape varieties.

The great hill of Hermitage juts out in the middle of the Crozes appellation and the steeply shelving vineyards on the south west side, facing the afternoon sun, form the famed AC of Hermitage.

Hermitage red wines: are among the best-proportioned red wines made in France and are huge, powerfully concentrated and full of tannins. They require about a decade to unwind. Even as they age, they remain so vibrantly fresh and can still gush forth blackberries and raspberries in abundance, backed by dark chocolate and the most savoury herbs, thyme and rosemary.

Because of the high levels of tannin they are usually aged longer than American or Australian Syrahs and are often cellared up to 40 years.

Hermitage white wines: dry white wines are also produced from a blend of Marsanne and Roussanne. They are rich and heavy, with flavours of roasted nuts and a twist of liquorice.

Producers: Guigal, Jaboulet’s Hermitage La Chapelle, Delas, Sorrel, Ferraton, Vidal-Fleury, Chapoutier’s La Sizeranne.

The 13 Crus of The Côtes Du Rhône (Rhône Valley)

Northern Rhône Valley Appellations

Condrieu (white wine)
Château-Grillet (white wine)
Cornas
Côte Rôtie
Crozes-Hermitage
Hermitage
St-Joseph
St-Péray

Southern Rhône Valley Appellations

Châteauneuf du Pape
Gigondas
Lirac
Tavel
Vacqueyras

References

Walton, Stuart, 1996. The World Encyclopedia of Wine, Anness Publishing Limited. (This books requires some modest knowledge of wine in general. I only enjoyed reading it after reading, Zraly’s book with all the fundamental basics).
Zraly, Kevin, 2008. Windows on the World Complete Wine Course, Sterling Publishing New York/London. (A very simple, informative and easy to read book. If you don’t know anything about wine, like me, this book is a must read).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermitage_AOC