Northern Rhone Night

5 of us (Pete, Mike, Thim, JN and myself) gathered for a nice midweek dinner with Northern Rhones and Portugese food. I really enjoyed the wines - they were a nice relief after weeks of drinking primarily Burgundy. Pinot is still my first love, but with brilliant Syrahs like those we had on the night, one could be very tempted to stray indeed.

• 2002 Bollinger Champagne La Grande Année 92 Points

  France, Champagne

  This has developed somewhat since the last few bottles - the easy charm that I liked so much in the past has receded somewhat, leaving behind a more substantial, muscular feel that was more truly Bolly in style. It was somehow a bit less enjoyable though. Along with the ripe red apple aromas from the previous bottles, the nose had now picked up a lot more mealy, meaty, slightly oxidative notes. The palate had put on quite a bit of weight and lot more grip too, with plenty of dry extract and a bed of dry, minerally notes coming out strongly from amidst the wine's familiarly fine mousse and bright citrus and apple flavours. There was still the zippy acidity and nice cut that I liked from previous bottles, but this now seemed a lot tighter and more wound-up, as if starting to go to sleep. With its quiet intensity and long finish – all grippy, mineral and a touch spicy – this has become a lot more serious than the delicious but easy-going Champagne of the past. Good raw material here, but it distinctly feels like it needs more time. One to try again in 3-4 years, and then again in a decade or so.

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• 1994 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Blanc De L'Orée 93 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Quite lovely. The one white on the night, and this really stood out. It smelt amazing, with a beautiful old nose just wafting out of the glass in tones of honey and beeswax, sweet quince paste and kumquats, abd deeper shades of spice and stone, all seasoned with lovely drifts of garrigue and wild flower. Wow. After all that alluring sweetness on the bouquet, the palate was actually a real change of gears. Spare, elegant, but with no lack of depth, this came across very clean, very linear, with a gentle glide of glowing honeyed tones and hints warm spice mingling amidst a matured core of kumquat and quince flavours, all soft and mellow, but laced with beautifully integrated acidity as the wine trailed gently away on a little stream of minerality and into a long, waxy finish. Surprisingly mature like quite a few L’Orees that I have had, but truly delicious, with not a hint of oxidation in sight. This seemed at peak and was drinking wonderfully.

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• 2001 Rene Rostaing Côte-Rôtie Côte Blonde 93 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

  On the night, this suffered a little from being put next to an absolutely belter of a 1999 Rostaing La Landonne and the great 1990 Guigal La Mouline, but otherwise, it was a really nice wine in its own right. It had a beautiful, almost feminine nose, with sweet scents of violets and licorice, blackberries and blueberries, and a lovely lifted spiciness. With time, just that touch of dried earth and meaty accents started trailing on behind. Very attractive. The palate was delicious too, attacking with a lovely flush of bacon fat at the top of the tongue and then lighter, brighter notes of dark cherries and berries on the midpalate, all this underlined with gentle notes of mineral and fresh citrussy acidity. There was a lovely, almost Burgundian transparency to this. Delicious stuff. On the lighter for a Côte-Rôtie perhaps, but whatever it lost in weight, it made up for in elegance. If I had any criticism, it was only that the finish could do with a bit more length. Otherwise, this was deliciously charming. Brilliant stuff. While drinking nicely now, I would hold for another 5-6 years – it still has room to grow and develop.

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• 1999 Rene Rostaing Côte-Rôtie La Landonne 95 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

  Outstanding - I loved this. It had such a beautiful, aromatic nose, with deep wafts of earth and meat and mineral, almost touch sauvage, and then layers of black fruit and licorice and a little infusion of spice – lovely, heady stuff. Altogether a deeper and more masculine, and yet no less alluring bouquet than that of the pretty 2001 Cote Blonde that we had alongside. I was beautiful on the palate too. There was that lovely fullness and depth of a great vintage, with delicious flavours of black cherries and dark berries seasoned with gentle flecks of spice and earth and mineral and just that touch of meaty, animale savouriness that echoed the nose. Yet for all its strength, the wine was wrapped in a cloak of the most elegant, velvety tannins and beautifully integrated acidity, ending in a long, subtle finish with a nice, stony earthiness to it. Really lovely – this was fresh, elegant and transparent, yet wonderfully substantial and very yummy. Rostaing on steroids I thought. A beautiful wine starting to drink wonderfully, this stood toe-to-toe with the great bottles of Guigal, Chave and Jaboulet on the night.

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• 1990 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Mouline 96 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

  A completely different animal from the elegant, high-toned Rene Rostaing Cote Roties that preceded it, but this was a truly brilliant wine. Still young even at 25 years of age, even if I did find it rather more developed than the bottle I had back in 2012. The nose took a bit of time to open up, but when it did, it bloomed out of the glass with fragrant drifts of dried Chinese herbs and spice and smoke, fragrant wild flowers and garrigue, then little savoury, meaty nuances, all floating around a core of sour cherries and orange peel. Woah. I would have described it fireworks in the nose, but this was somehow gentler, subtler than that, unfolding as it did in beautiful layers of aroma. The palate was so much more powerful and tightly-packed than either of the pair of Rostaings, with a rich, powerful beam of blackberry and dark cherry and cassis wrapped in a robe of herb and spice and garrigue and just that little punch of meatiness and a sprinkling of dried earth at the sides. What really made the wine for me was the fact that all that power and richness it had were matched by some lovely juicy acidity and beautifully fine-boned tannins that gave it both a noble sense of structure and a real finesse. There was almost a pause for breath on the midpalate, and then the finish fanned across the back palate with a wonderful flush of meat and mineral and beautiful layers of spice that just kept unfolding in the mouth. Glorious stuff; brilliant, but still monolithic. It is drinking better now than 3 years ago, but this clearly can go on for decades yet. I would love to try a bottle again in say 6-8 years to see where it is going.

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• 1988 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle 95 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Third time I have had this wine blind, and I have been blown away every time. This had a beautiful nose. Somehow forward and expressive, yet keeping a certain reserve at the same time, it showed a nice backdrop of wet earth and broiled meat underlying more aromatic notes of bluberries and violets and spice. Deep and insistent, yet with a lovely, subtle sense of nuance. The same could be said about the palate. Full, generous, yet impeccably balanced and beautifully structured, it had all the depth that the nose promised, with mouthfilling flavours of blueberries and plums and cassis wrapped around a lovely spicy, core, yet also showing a noble structure of fine-boned tannins and wonderfully bright, juicy acidity that stretched the wine into a compellingly long finish, where blueberries, mineral and spice wound their leisurely way through the backpalate. Very complete, and very good indeed, this was a drinking beautifully now.

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• 1985 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle 94 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Much better than the last (very reductive) bottle I had some 5 years back. This was very good indeed, perhaps just a small step or two behind the superb bottle of 1988 that shared its flight. The nose had a meatier, earthier, more masculine character than the younger wine, with a nice earthy, minerally streak underpinning notes of black and blue fruit, then stone and spice and herb, and a real whiff of meatiness at the edges. Very nice, in a dark masculine way. The palate took a bit of time to come around, making me suspect that the last bottle that I had suffered from being rushed through. Given some time and air, this wine was a lovely melange of spice and earth and stony mineral melded together with yummy flavours of of blue and blackberries in the mouth. Beautifully integrated, perfectly balanced, this was wonderful. It finished great too, with a little linger of earth and coffee grounds drifting away into the distance. Like the 1988, this was drinking really well. I would say that it was quite at peak, but given the balance and the substance to the wine, I can imagine it staying at this high plateau for many years to come.

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• 1989 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage 95 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  A bit of a pity – I thought there was just a slightest hint of TCA on the nose, with some wet cardboard notes starting to appear. That aside, it had a lovely, almost Burgundian bouquet of blueberries, dark cherries and little layers of earth and stone, with spice and garrigue and just that wild floral shade at the very edges that pulled one back to the Rhone. The palate still really, really shone though. Rich, layered and complex, yet beautifully fine and focused, with superbly cut and precise flavours of black cherries and dark berries laced with earth and stone. On the finish, a beautiful embrace of spice and flowers then wrapped around the back palate in a long, compelling end. The purest of all the wines we on the night, this had the typical elegance and transparency of a great Chave wed to the lovely warmth and generosity of the vintage. A beautiful wine, and one that probably still needs many years more in the bottle before it reaches its peak. I could not help wondering whether it could have been so much more if not for that faint haunting streak of TCA though.

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