Notes from Rare Wine Co.:

"Forty years ago, Paul Jaboulet Aîné was the great house of the Rhône Valley.  As John Livingstone-Learmonth has written, Jaboulet was, “the yardstick … the trailblazer around the world … bringing the very hearth of the Rhône into people’s lives.”

And they did so not only from their home base of Hermitage, but from all of the great appellations throughout the Rhône. Jaboulet’s most famous wine, then and now, is the legendary Hermitage La Chapelle, made from fruit from their own vines.

Yet, from the 1950s through the 1980s—and from Côte Rôtie in the north to Châteauneuf du Pape in the south—Jaboulet also made cuvées from purchased fruit that were among the greatest wines from their respective villages.

That Jaboulet, as a negociant, could achieve such quality is explained partially by the house’s great skill in the cellar. But even more important was their access at that time to fruit from what are some of today’s most famous domaines."