Walls: M Chapoutier Hermitage Monier de la Sizeranne vertical

Have you ever noticed that some labels on Chapoutier’s wines feature braille as well as printed text? I asked Michel Chapoutier how this came about. 

The wealthy de la Sizeranne family lived in Tain l’Hermitage and had three children. One of them, Maurice, was blinded while playing with a bow and arrow aged nine years old. As an adult, Maurice de la Sizeranne (1857–1924), devoted himself to working for the benefit of blind people, and one of his achievements was to develop an abbreviated form of braille. 

The Chapoutier family bought some prime Hermitage vineyards from the de la Sizeranne family, and named its top wine ‘Monier de la Sizeranne’ in their honour. In 1995, Michel decided to add braille to the labels, partly to make his wines more accessible to visually impaired people, but also to remember Maurice.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores of 12 vintages of M Chapoutier’s Mornier de la Sizeranne

The traditional blend vs. single vineyards

Chapoutier is now the biggest landholder in the Hermitage appellation, owning 34 hectares of the 134ha under vine. To describe his holdings as enviable is something of an understatement, with parcels across all the finest lieux-dits.

Before Michel joined the family company in 1989, the single red Hermitage was a blend of different parcels, which was customary at the time. One of Michel’s first decisions was to create a range of single vineyard wines from the oldest vines, now known as his Sélections Parcellaires. ‘Some people said I was going against the tradition of Hermitage,’ he says. And he was.

He didn’t discard the Monier de la Sizeranne blended cuvée, however. ‘I didn’t want to turn my back on tradition,’ he says. ‘I wanted to keep Sizeranne as a historical blend.’ The classic Hermitage blend contains three key component lieux-dits: Le Méal, Les Bessards and Les Greffieux, and these are still the main components of La Sizeranne today. 

Le Méal is made up of ancient glaciofluvial deposits with a stony topsoil; Les Greffieux is at the foot of the hill, containing silty clay and recent alluvials; Les Bessards is composed of granite. ‘Le Méal brings power, Les Greffieux brings finesse, Les Bessards brings structure,’ says Michel.

Production details

Grape variety: 100% Syrah

Average vine age: 40 to 50 years

Farming: certified biodynamic

Typical yield: 30 to 35hl/ha

Stem use: all destemmed

Maceration time: five to six weeks

Fermentation vessel: concrete

Maturation: oak barriques and demi-muids, 20% new

The tasting

I’ve heard this cuvée described as Chapoutier’s ‘early-drinking Hermitage’ in the past – surely an oxymoron. I opened 12 recent vintages to get a more complete understanding of the wine: 2021 to 2014, 2011 to 2009, and 2001. 

The only change in production during this 20-year period has been a gradually lighter touch with the oak regime. Michel says that – in around 1990 – he would expect a natural alcohol level of around 12%. Today, 13.5% to 14% is more common – and the 2018, 2019 and 2020 vintage all reached 14.5%. 

‘Alcohol is a solvent,’ explains Michel, so today’s wines extract more oak flavour from barrels than they once did. That’s why he has been replacing barriques with larger demi-muids since 2008, and have more recently started using some 1,200l foudres. 

The result is a discretely oaked cuvée, which is welcome, as overoaking in Hermitage is still frustratingly common. The overall style is typical and genuine; ripe but not overly so, polished but not glossy, and doesn’t shy away from the natural power and structure that this site delivers.

More importantly it’s a wine that faithfully reflects its vintage. This is always something that holds plenty of interest for wine lovers, but be prepared for marked vintage variation – it can be excellent in good vintages, but less exciting in lighter vintages such as 2021. 

It might only rarely hit the heights of Chapoutier’s single vineyard wines, but in vintages like 2019, 2015 and 2010, Sizeranne can be a fantastic wine in its own right. Given the relatively accessible price for a Hermitage, it makes buying top vintages a smart move.

I would however advise patience. With the exception of the light 2021 and the juicy 2018, like all Hermitage this is a wine that requires ageing, and only builds the smoky, truffley, gamey complexity that makes Hermitage so distinctive over time. And given Syrah’s propensity to suffer from closed periods, drinking windows are worth noting.

Is it an early drinking cuvée? Given that it starts drinking well after 12 years instead of the usual 20 for Hermitage, then perhaps it is. But going by the brilliant 2001, there’s no need to hurry. Young vines or old, Hermitage marches to its own beat.

Monier de la Sizeranne: 12 vintages tasted

Wines are listed in order of vintage, from youngest to oldest

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