Jean-Louis Chave: Rhône Valley icon

auction update – in association with iDealwine

The work of Jean-Louis Chave has long been admired by wine enthusiasts. His family has been making wine in the Rhône Valley for centuries, and Jean-Louis himself is credited with bringing the Hermitage appellation to the attention of the world. Mature vintages of his Cathelin wine – which hasn’t been officially released for about 10 years now – have become collector ’s items and, because of this, highly sought after by enthusiasts. Extremely rare, as no more than 2,500 bottles are produced even in the best vintages, the secondary auction market goes into a frenzy whenever one comes up for auction. A bottle from 2009 appeared on iDealwine, France’s leading online wine auction house, in 2024, selling for €6,260. This hammer price was the highest that any Rhône Valley wine (from both the northern and the southern areas of the region) achieved on the auction website last year, further cementing Cathelin’s status as a Rhône icon. A bottle of 2000 Cathelin, which is firmly in its drinking window, also made an appearance last year, going under the hammer for €5,383, just €20 less than the last time it was auctioned in 2019, showing that the market has now stabilised after the soaring prices of 2022/23. The wine can be described as ample and concentrated, with a magnificent complexity. As it ages, it develops an amazing tapestry of aromas, such as blackcurrant, prunes, spices and leather, with toasted and smoky notes. But it’s not just the estate’s star wine that gets all the attention. Jean-Louis Chave’s other red wines perform well at auction too. The estate’s Hermitage from 1990 continually attracts high prices, with a bottle selling in January of this year for €1,126. While the price estimate may now be lower than when prices for Rhône Valley wines skyrocketed in 2022, it has still seen an 8.96% increase over the past year. The 1991 vintage of the same wine also enjoys the equal attention from wine enthusiasts. This is perhaps because of its excellent critics’ ratings, with various influential publications scoring the wine 99 or 100 out of 100. Four bottles appeared at iDealwine auctions in 2024, going under the hammer for prices in the range of €1,577 to €2,129. In case you were wondering, Jean-Louis Chave’s red Hermitages can be kept for roughly half a century when they come from good vintages, which 1990 and 1991 were in the northern Rhône. And white wine lovers are not forgotten about, as the estate also produces a white wine from the Hermitage appellation. This wine, produced from mainly Marsanne and completed by Roussanne, is intense, elegant and creamy, with peach, apricot and hazelnut notes, and its acidity will allow it to age for several decades. According to iDealwine, most of the price estimates of this white Hermitage produced within the past 25 years lie between €200 and €300, fluctuating based on the quality of the vintage. For example, a bottle from 2009 – an exceptional vintage and a wine adored by the critics – has an estimated value of €322 on the French auction website, with a bottle being sold in January 2025 for €344. And, when looking at a more recent vintage which still needs to be left to rest in the cellar, the 2018 of Chave’s white Hermitage is estimated to be worth €313, with bottles sold at auction within the past year all achieving a hammer price above €300. So what makes this estate so special? Jean-Louis Chave continues the ancestral practices of his forebears, whose work forged the estate’s reputation. He controls the vines’ yields, abstains from using herbicides and artificial fertilisers, and harvests the grapes as late as possible. In the winery, he avoids interfering with the winemaking process as much as possible, preferring to leave the wine to craft its own character. Each plot of grapes is vinified and matured separately, allowing Jean-Louis Chave to blend together the wines in a way that will create the greatest complexity. And that’s not all. There is no written record of the blends from the previous vintage kept at the estate. This means that, with each new vintage, Jean-Louis Chave works to craft a blend with the perfect balance based on the characteristics of the wines in front of him, without any preconceived ideas. His aim is to present a sensual snapshot of the Hermitage appellation, creating a wine that showcases the richness and variety of the area. This is why the estate is so beloved. When iDealwine looked at where bottles of Jean-Louis Chave sold at auction in 2024 were finding their new homes, an interesting trend appeared. While most bottles stayed in France, the average hammer price per bottle was greater elsewhere in the world. The US leads the way in this regard, registering an average hammer price of €696 for the 32 bottles sold in 2024 which made their way across the Atlantic. This trend could be attributed to a scarcity of Jean-Louis Chave’s bottles outside France.