One of the oldest, if not the oldest Rhone Valley wines still producing today, Maison Jean-Louis Chave can trace their history back to 1481. Rated fourth on the Top Ten of most wanted wines from the Rhone Valley, Jean-Louis Chave offers consistent (investors, take note of the c-word) quality with consistent top scores to match. Currently in its 16th generation of Chaves, suffice to say that when it comes to wine, Jean-Louis Chave knows his stuff.

Currently managed by father-son team Gérard and Jean-Louis, the Chaves are as close to viticultural royalty as you can get. Their incredibly deep regional roots account for some of the constant excellence of their wine, but more tangible is the beautiful blending, the expert farming of their Hermitage hill terroir and the understanding of what that terroir can give: vigour, controlled ageing, subtlety and supreme elegance. The blends are revisited every year; starting from scratch Gérard and Jean-Louis will consider every factor prior to deciding on the percentages of their assemblages. An example of the Hermitage blanc final blend is 80 to 85% Marsanne with 15 to 20% Roussanne.

Scoring 100 point perfection for 2010 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage from influential Robert Parker, this has understandably pushed prices up. Wine writer John Livingstone-Learmonth describes Chave wines as: "Hermitage as it should be" while wine writer Joss Fowler calls him: "the Mugnier of the northern Rhône". In fact, as Jason Yapp says, "The only real problem with Chave wines is getting hold of any."

With such high praise, serious investors are going to need to push the boat out if they want to get their hands on a bottle of Jean-Louis Chave - forget about a case as in early Q2 2019 only one bottle of the fabled 2009 Ermitage Cuvée Cathelin was available on the worldwide market at a whopping €7,750. Eye-wateringly expensive yes, but still cheaper than the house record, set by the 2003 for €8,512, sold in February 2018. The 1990, 2003, 2009 and 2010 vintages have all been awarded the maximum score, and are set to skyrocket, as Chave recently announced he would be stopping production of this label.