"On the occasion of a trip to the United States, we had the unique experience of tasting a Chateau Palmer 1869 at the home of a great wine collector. We began discussing the practice that was common at the time of blending fine Bordeaux wines with a small proportion of wine from the North of the Cotes du Rhone region. One can find a few bottles from this period bearing on their label the name Cru with the added mention "hermitage" or "ermitage" (the term refers precisely to the practice of adding wine from another region). This was of course before AOC regulations put an end to such practices. We decided that it would be interesting to experiment with this practice again with the wines we are making today."