Yann Chave

This has been a rather overlooked domaine for many years.  But it has been completely revitalised by one of the best young men to appear in the northern Rhone in the past dozen years, Yann Chave.  The core Crozes is formed by 6.5 hectares at Mercurol, with 14-55 year old vines and five hectares of 50-year-old vines at Pont-de-l'Isere. The traditional Crozes is tank fermented ('The oak robbed it of its fruit' comments Yann) while the La Rouvre is aged for a year in one-year-old 600 litre barrels.  JOHN LIVINGSTONE-LEARMONTH, The Wines of the Northern Rhone

For generations the Chave family in Mercurol were predominantly orchardists growing cherries, apricots and pomme fruits to supply to local markets. In 1970 Nicole and Bernard Chave decided to plant a single hectare of vines to subsidize their other farming income, the revenue from which proved worthwhile and so they began to expand their plantings until in 1994 they had nearly 16 hectares under vine. However the family had no interest in owning a domaine and so all their wares were either sold off in bulk to negociants or private customers.
After finishing his studies and completing his service to the military in 1996 Yann returned home and began to create what is now the Yann Chave domaine where he began leasing other vineyards and underwent the arduous process of building a new cellar and reinvigorating the vineyards which would eventually allow him to produce some of the greatest wines in Crozes Hermitage. ROSCOE