Chante-Alouette
⏳ Drinking Window
2022 - 2035
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Creamy mushroom risotto, roasted lobster with butter sauce, or mature Comté cheese.
✨ Technical Specifications
M. Chapoutier's 'Chante-Alouette' is a benchmark Hermitage Blanc, taking its poetic name—'Song of the Lark'—from the historic vineyard slopes of the Hermitage hill. This organic and biodynamically farmed cuvée is crafted from Marsanne grapes grown on a complex mosaic of soils, including the granitic alluvial soils of Le Méal, the clay-gravel of Les Murets, and the loess-rich Chante-Alouette lieu-dit itself. Fermented and aged on its fine lees in a combination of stainless steel tanks and oak demi-muids, the wine is celebrated for its intense aromatic profile of quince, honey, ginger, and white flowers, underpinned by a striking mineral tension and a rich, oily texture characteristic of the finest Northern Rhône whites.
🍾 About the Producer
Established in 1808 in Tain-l'Hermitage, Maison M. Chapoutier was transformed into a global benchmark for terroir-driven viticulture after Michel Chapoutier took charge in 1990. Operating on the motto 'Fac & Spera' (Do and Hope), the estate became an early, outspoken pioneer of biodynamic farming in 1991 across its extensive estate vineyards. Rooted along the granite terraces, fluvioglacial alluvial soils, and limestone outcrops of the northern and southern Rhône Valley, Chapoutier crafts transparent, single-vineyard bottlings (sélections parcellaires) alongside international ventures in regions like Portugal's Douro Valley. Winemaking favors indigenous yeasts, gentle extraction, and minimal intervention to preserve purity of origin, often eschewing new wood in favor of neutral oak casks or concrete vats. Benchmark cuvées—famed for their tactile Braille labeling introduced in 1994—include Hermitage icons such as Le Méal Blanc, De l'Orée, Les Greffieux, and Côte-Rôtie's La Mordorée, epitomizing tension, minerality, and structural longevity.
🍇 Grapes
100% Marsanne
🍷 ABV
13.5-14%