Hermitage La Chapelle & Grange

• 1990 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon 93 Points

  France, Champagne

  Mid to full straw. Nicely rich on the nose without any oxidative notes. Nicely mellow with a touch of ginger. Decent length. Lovely. ****

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• 1988 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle 92 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Quite a dusty, deep nose. The blood and iron needs a little coaxing. Some green olive too. Quite dry and savoury with the olive coming through on the palate. Very smooth and mellow finish. Fruit recedes with air, on this bottle at least, lovely but drink up. ****

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• 1995 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle 93 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Dense, dark fruited, some blackcurrant in here. Bright spicy attack. Lots here. Higher acidity on the finish cf the 88, but far more expressive on the nose. ****

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• 1996 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle 93 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Dark nosed. A touch of dusty rubber but not too much so as to be off-putting. Dense and brooding on the attack. Fresh acidity on the finish. Just needs time, I think, to open and meld. This really starts to, if not relax, loosen its grip with air. The ugly duckling that turns in to something splendid? ****?

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• 1973 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle 90 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Iron and a little blood on the nose. Sweet-fruited on the attack. Still showing well albeit not in the first flush of youth. (*)**1/2

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• 1982 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle 91 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  A little sweet and sweaty on the nose. Sweet-fruited attack. Mellow, a little lift, just flirting with some volatility. Very sweet and sexy, but living on the edge a bit. ****

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• 1985 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle 94 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Gorgeous nose. Proper HLC. Blood iron and olives. Meaty and dense with good acidity on the finish. Very complete. The savouriness of the 88 and the energy of the 95. Very harmonious. ****1/2

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• 1983 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle 93 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Quite dark and dense on the nose. Palate too. A touch of sweetness. A little warm but there's a touch of lift. Pretty harmonious without the immediate appeal of the 85. Some fine dry tannin on the finish. ****

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• 1992 Penfolds Grange 91 Points

  Australia, South Australia

  Thick, dense and gloopy. So much deeper and denser than the HLCs. Very leggy. A touch of mint and eucalyptus. Mellows in the glass, but still quite full on. **(**)

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• 1985 Penfolds Grange 92 Points

  Australia, South Australia

  Dark and savoury. Inky. Savoury on the attack. Porty, licorice, sweet but also a dry line to the finish. Starting to open and show some interesting development, but pretty monolithic for a 31 year old. **(**)

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• 1995 Penfolds Grange 91 Points

  Australia, South Australia

  Dense and dark. Volatile lift on the nose, in the banana and acetone spectrum, though it does blow off. Dark and dense and very hard to judge. *(***)?

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Lovely to see the vintage and maturity variations within the HLC family style. The Grange were huge, almost impenetrable by comparison, with seemingly little development — not at all my thing, and consequently hard to judge, but one could tell they were impressive wines, just not really fun to drink they need a very long time I think. Sadly the one that might have been there, the 72, was a poor imitation for Madeira following a cork failure.