Chave night with the Gelbs.

Marshall and Diana Gelb were in town for their annual visit to our fair city and once again some of the natives rolled out the welcome mat and tucked fine bottles of wine under their arms in welcome. Christine Huang and Marty Ellington welcomed them, Paul and Sandy Jaouen, Suzanne Camhi and Kenny Shusterman and me to their new Harlem digs for a night of great fun. Christine once again outdid herself in the kitchen, cooking up a feast that included goat cheese and caramelized onion crostada, pike quenelles, daube Provencal and a pear tart where the pears were poached in an '83 Climens that apparently showed too much oxidation. Marshall mentioned that, like last year, he was bringing a '90 Chave, Paul quickly piped in with the '88 and a Chave theme was formed. With company, food and wine like that, the only possible outcome can be a great time and indeed it was!

• 1998 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  The first bottle opened was oxidized. A second bottle was opened and showed much fresher, but also showed a lightly oxidized, nutty character. Rich and relatively low acid with stone fruits, honey, spice and citrus notes with just a bit too much butterscotch/oak for my tastes. Just not my style of wine with the low acid and oak profile. B/B+.

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• 2000 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc Flawed

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Corked.

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• 2001 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Starts off with a lot of sulfur on the nose that eventually blew off to reveal apricot, honeysuckle, spice and herbal aromas. It's a more vibrant and better balanced and integrated wine than the '98, with similar flavors as aromas on the palate. The nuttiness here doesn't make the wine seem advanced as it did on the '98, but rather enhances the flavor profile. Oily mouthfeel with a long, butterscotch finish. Again, not my style of wine, but well made and classy. Solid B+.

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• 1989 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  A typical showing for this wine, pleasant enough, but no real sparks or personality. Again, aromatically it continues to inspire before the relative letdown on the palate. It's always very pretty on the nose with bright red cherry and raspberry fruit, light meat and olive notes with a bit of garrigue, but on the palate the fruit is always a bit lacking and the acidity just a bit too wild. The palate does show some nice bark and licorice notes, but the finish is a bit chunky. Completely outclassed by the '88 Chave it was paired with. B+/A-.

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• 1988 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Always one of my favorite Chaves, this one is showing beautifully, but with a bit less fruit than usual with the smoked meat character more prominent leading me to believe the wine might be heading to the back side of peak. Normally there's quite a bit of black fruit to the wine, but in this bottle it's somewhat in the background. Silky upfront with wonderful harmony and softness across the palate, the smokiness of the wine is really quite soothing. Nice and meaty with the usual herb, bacon and lavender character and crisp acidity on the finish. My WOTN. A/A-.

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• 1992 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  When first poured it had an intriguing nose of freshly cut parsley that was quite intense before shifting to a more traditional garrigue character. Resolved, easy drinking and with a loosey-goosey middle, it nonetheless shows a pretty core of sweet red raspberry fruit that has a nice purity to it to go along with black olive notes. Light bodied with not a lot of depth, but quite a success for the vintage. Drink up. B+/A-.

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• 1990 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Marshall brought a bottle of this for our dinner last year on 1/1/12 and though that was my first wine dinner of the year, that ended up being my wine of the year. That bottle was perhaps the best bottle of it that I've had. It was explosive on the palate, with tremendous fruit, so much complexity and depth and was just belting out opera tunes. The bottle he brought this year, however, from the same case he brought on release, was extremely tight and unyielding. Unfortunately, it was not decanted, which probably would've helped if done earlier in the day. After taking an initial sip, I left mine in the glass untouched for most of the rest of the evening in the hopes that it would open up and it only did just enough to show you that it was chock full of red fruit, meat and spice goodness. Call this showing an A- only because the wine refused to budge. The goods were there, though.

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• 1994 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Drinking in prime time, though still showing youthfully, there's a lot to like here, from its sweet black fruit, meat and nicoise olive tapenade notes to its black pepper, lavender and garrigue character. It's rich, yet a little chunky with nice acid levels. There's a beautiful floral character to the wine and it just shows a lot of personality and positive energy. A really nice showing. Solid A-.

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• 1998 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Not as prodigious a showing as a bottle I had last year, but still an excellent showing. This bottle started off with nice fruit levels, but with a bitter chocolate and oak note that was a little too obvious and a body that seemed a little thin. Christine calls out "chocolate covered olives" and yep, I can see that. The wine seemed a touch discombobulated at the onset and, indeed, this wine probably benefited the most from air. By the end of the evening the wine really gained weight, blackberry and black raspberry fruit became more abundant and sweeter, the oak integrated better and meat and violet notes became more apparent. Texturally, the wine showed more heft than it did at the onset. Still quite youthful and relatively primary. Solid A-.

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• 1978 Château Climens

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac

  Christine made a remarkable pear tart with pears that had been poached in an oxidized bottle of '83 Climens and this wine was paired with it. Not an auspicious start as the nose was as funky as George Clinton. Musty with vinyl and petrochemical aromas from the get go. Thankfully, those blew off and a more pleasing desiccated pineapple and butterscotch aroma emerged and later took on marzipan notes. On the palate, quite respectable for a weak, low botrytis vintage. There's surprising weight and sweetness here with pleasant pineapple, apricot and butterscotch flavors. That said, it doesn't have the thick texture and intensely honeyed character that a normal botrytis affected vintage has. Finishes with a rum note, but without the burn. Quite nice with the tart. B+/A-.

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Some pictures from the evening.

The wine lineup.


The group.


Goat cheese and caramelized onion crostada.


Pike quenelles.


Pike quenelle plated.


Daube Provencal.


'83 Climens poached pear tart.


A tasty slice.