2017 Domaine Olivier Hillaire Chateauneuf-du-Pape Les Petits Pieds d'Armand 750 ml

Like a mythical combination of Château Rayas and Vieux Télégraphe, the 2017 Olivier Hillaire Les Petits Pieds demand is a 100% Grenache beauty from 120-year-old vines on the famed terroir of La Crau. Its 98-point score from Jeb Dunnuck puts it at the pinnacle of the Rhône, alongside the region’s most celebrated bottles: Beaucastel’s $500 Hommage à Jacques Perrin, and Clos Saint Jean’s Sanctus Sanctorum ($262) and Deus-Ex Machina ($132) among them.

But the price of the Petits Pieds d'Armand makes it stand out as a powerful yet weightless red from the most famous terroir in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Hillaire’s 2017 positively stunned us with its wow factor, led by a nose of alluring exotic spices and incense, followed by a ripe and rich palate laden with spicy raspberry and cherry fruit, all carried on a stout and silky frame.

Dunnuck, in comparing the 2017 to the greatest ever from the estate, called it “old vine Grenache at its most sexy and opulent,” summing it up as a “magical wine.” We say it’s as good as it gets for lovers of the Rhône, Grenache fans, and Old World collectors. Blockbuster Châteauneuf that competes with the most regal names in the region are few and far between, and under $100, they’re basically unheard of. 

Olivier Hillaire is the winemaker-slash-brasserie owner who, with the help of 100-point consulting winemaker Philippe Cambie (who also makes Clos Saint Jean), is becoming a major player in the Southern Rhône. He’s praised for bringing forth what Wine Advocate has called one of the “delicious contradictions” of great Grenache: the elusive quality of power without weight. Dunnuck summed it up when he called the 2017 “super-rich, powerful, and full-bodied, yet also weightless.” Like a tiny fraction of top Barolos, Barbarescos, and Grand Cru Burgundies, Hillaire nails that balance. 

It helps that Hillaire has access to three of the most sought-after acres in the region, the old vines (planted in 1899) at La Crau, the most famous vineyard in the region and the source of Vieux Télégraphe’s top bottling. Hillaire had worked with the fruit when he was winemaker for Domaine des Relagne, the estate that belonged to his father-in-law. When his beau-père sold the estate, Hillaire negotiated an arrangement that allowed him to continue to source from this prime parcel of ancient vines. The outcome speaks for itself: Robert Parker says Hillaire has taken the former Relagne holdings and “changed the wines from very good to sensational.”

Sensational is exactly how we’d sum up Hillaire’s 98-point 2017 Les Petits Pieds d'Armand. Vieux Télégraphe terroir, Rayas-like grace, and the power that is classic Châteauneuf-du-Pape. It doesn’t get better than this in the Rhône, so don’t miss your chance.