2017 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Le Chevalier de Sterimberg Hermitage Blanc

No estate captures the power and harmony of Hermitage like Paul Jaboulet Aîné. And for the 2017 vintage, when the estate’s very best white grapes all went into the Chevalier de Sterimberg Hermitage Blanc, no single wine better expresses the Northern Rhône’s unique balance of muscularity, precision, and finesse. 

If you’re obsessed with the densely layered whites of Meursault, Montrachet, or the Sonoma Coast, you will love this pinnacle of Hermitage Blanc—a wine that flies under the radar not just because of the fame of Jaboulet’s reds, but because of its scarcity. But savvy buyers know it represents an opportunity to pick up a world-class white wine at a relative bargain. And the 2017 Chevalier de Sterimberg stands as one of the best bargains of them all.

This is the top white from the most iconic estate in the Northern Rhône’s most celebrated village. Jaboulet library vintages go for upwards of $10,000 at auction. Their top red from 2017 sells for nearly $200 per bottle. This wine, a supremely beautiful and focused Marsanne-Roussanne blend from the hillside’s most prized lieux-dits, goes for a fraction of that.

Critics have been raving about Jaboulet’s resurgence ever since Caroline Frey took the helm in 2006. Decanter called her “one of the most exciting and respected winemakers in France.” Jeb Dunnuck wrote that she’s been “on an incredible roll” lately, lavishing praise on the 2017 Sterimberg Blanc as “ultra-pure, seamless, and silky.” The Wine Advocate’s Joe Czerwinski said Jaboulet’s 2017s include “the best I’ve ever tasted at this address.” He also noted this wine’s “beauty, with a silky texture and a long, mouthwatering finish.

We visited the estate last year and spent a lingering morning with Caroline, who charmed us to no end, as usual. We tasted through several wines from recent vintages, and when we left, she gestured to the collection of half-full bottles scattered around the cellar table. “Take your pick,” she said. “To have with lunch.”

We’d been hoping she’d offer. Of all the wines we tasted that day, it was the Sterimberg Blanc that bowled us over. We were craving more of its taut frame and sumptuous embellishments, the crushed-stone minerality stitched through its flowing tropical fruit profile with the arresting proportionality of a Balenciaga dress. Almost as if it shouldn’t work and yet more alive than everything around it, revealing but on its own terms, startling, perfect. We popped the cork back in the bottle, tucked it in our bag, and gushed over it all afternoon.

We think you’ll be just as obsessed as we are. And because there was no La Chapelle Blanc made in 2017, all of the estate’s best fruit went to making the Sterimberg Blanc instead, which means there has never been a better time to jump on this incredible value of a wine. 

The key to Hermitage’s greatness, of course, lies in the marriage between vine and place. Marsanne and Roussanne are perfectly suited to the hillside’s aberrant warmth amid the cold and windy surroundings. It allows for that renowned tension, imparting both a dewiness and brawniness that complement each other effortlessly in the glass. Anyone whose mouth waters over the mere thought of white Burgundy should pay attention to white Hermitage as well. With this pedigree and this vintage, a better example will not come your way for less.

We’ve become closer with Caroline over the past couple of years, getting to know her not only as a charming interlocutor with an encyclopedic knowledge of French wine, but also as a compassionate and delightful friend. She led a virtual tasting for us in the fall, and we plan to have her back for more soon. In the meantime, we can’t say enough about her masterful efforts. 

The Frey family purchased Jaboulet in 2006, adding the icon to their holdings in the Médoc (Château La Lagune) and Champagne (Billecart-Salmon). With Caroline at the helm, they breathed new life into the estate, reviving the vineyards carefully over several years, converting ultimately to biodynamic farming practices, and reintroducing a classical approach in the cellar. 

In this process, she has restored one of the great houses in all of wine, with its iconic chapel on the hill and its legendary offerings. More to the point, she has developed one of the great modern programs in Hermitage, signalling that she, very much like her wines, is here to stay.

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Sweetness
• Acidity

• ABV 14.50%
• 15 mins
• Now – 2035
• % Marsanne% Roussanne
• Serving temperature – 48°
• Cork