So after two white Hermitage wines, we’re heading to Syrah, but sticking with the Hermitage hill. This wine is very interesting. It was a gift from Richard Kelley MW, who’d bought a few bottles at auction, and knew it was my birth year.

Now 1967 is not a great birth year for wines. I don’t have much experience of good birth year wines. Musar 1967 was pretty smart, and Taylor’s Vargellas 1967 was OK. I’ve yet to experience Yquem 1967, which is a great vintage.

This Hermitage, from an unknown producer, was bottled in London by Berry Bros & Rudd. Back in the late 1960s, Hermitage was far from fashionable and this would not have been an expensive wine. But the quality of the terroir has shown through. This is a really lovely, elegant old wine, showing its origins. At 43, it’s in great shape, showing why age in wine is so highly regarded.

Red Hermitage 1967 Rhone
Bottled by Berry Bros & Rudd. Slightly bricking rim indicates its age. Fresh and still lively with some meatiness and a hint of iron. It still has lovely raspberry, cherry and plum fruit with some earthy complexity. Warm, smooth, textured and quite elegant. Still recognizable as Syrah, with subtle green hints. Fine and fresh with definition and a nice meaty, bloody, iron-like edge to the fruit. Real elegance here. 94/100