2016 Ferraton Pere et Fils Ermitage Le Meal Northern Rhone Valley France

Towering yet tiny Hermitage Hill in the Northern Rhône produces red wines as stirring, regal, and long-lived as any First Growth Bordeaux. The best almost always come from world-famous names like Chapoutier, Jaboulet, and Chave—and bear the price tags to match. 

But every once in a rare while, a wine with the same royal bearing will crash the upper echelon, bringing with it an out-of-place price. And in the 2016 vintage, that wine is Ferraton Père & Fils Ermitage Le Méal, a world-class wine from the most storied terroir in the Northern Rhône, that fits right in with top Chapoutier and Chave bottlings at the absolute pinnacle of Hermitage Hill—at 1/2 to 1/5th the price. 

Grown on the terraced, pebbly soils of the lieu-dit that supplies Chapoutier’s most famous wine and Jaboulet’s La Chapelle, Ferraton’s Le Méal is Jeb Dunnuck’s third-highest rated Hermitage of the vintage, and one he called “magical” in his 98-point review. It’s packed with black currant, raspberries, sweet baking spices, and woodsy herbs on the nose, with a plush and gorgeous palate. The wine wraps with a mineral-driven finish and shows a structure that will keep it on course in the cellar for 15 to 20 years. 

Chapoutier’s top bottlings will cost you $246-$500+. But you can claim Ferraton’s “magical” 98-point Le Méal at the best price in the nation—$110.

Jean Orens Ferraton founded Ferraton in 1946 with just 3/4 of an acre in Hermitage. His son Michel Ferraton expanded the vineyard holdings and the business, and a half-century after the winery’s founding decided to take the audacious step of farming organically and biodynamically. For expertise on the subject, he sought out a friend—one whose identity gives a hint as to why Ferraton belongs among the upper crust of the Northern Rhône.

That friend was Michel Chapoutier, and ever since those days two decades ago, Ferraton Père & Fils has been a joint venture, owned by M. Chapoutier but operated independently. 

No Ferraton wine displays their stellar terroir and savoir-faire like their flagship from Le Méal, the storied site on Hermitage Hill that also supplies Chapoutier’s landmark single-site bottling, as well as Jaboulet’s iconic La Chapelle. Le Méal boasts the Hill’s granitic signature but consists of looser soils of rounded pebbles, and is known for producing richer, riper wines. Ferraton’s plot sits in one of the cooler parts of the lieu-dit, and boasts 30-year-old vines growing on terraces with a full southern exposure, a combination that results in gorgeous ripeness and concentration, bolstered by a backbone of acidic verve. 

This is one of the savviest collector’s buys we can imagine, a bottle that stands with the absolute best of the Northern Rhône at a fraction of the price. Claim three or four for the price of one of the marquee bottles of the region, and enjoy them for the next two decades. 

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Acidity
• Tannin

• ABV 15.00%
• 1 hour
• Now – 2040
• % Syrah
• Serving temperature – 60°
• Cork