This pours deep gold in the glass. The nose is mature and on the downslope of bruised apple, lightly nutty oxidation, toasted almond, dried bay leaf, and dried lemon rind. The palate shows solid medium acid keeping some vibrance, while the light nutty oxidation and dried lemon peel shows this is a little tired. There is also a sense of waxyness and salinity to the texture here. All in all this is a nice bottle of Chave Hermitage Blanc if a little below the expectations one might have for such a bottle and a little further down the development curve than you might expect.
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru
This pours medium ruby, a touch cloudy, with some flecks of pink and a watery rim. The nose on opening is dominated my menthol, but after about an hour unfurls to show fresh cherry, grapefruit rind, rose petals, a whisp of ginger, dry dusty soil, sandalwood, fresh thyme, a touch of integrating oak, and some of that menthol still lingering. The palate is also lovely with cherry and grapefruit dominating the texture turning to medium minus tannin and medium acid and then a long finish that fans out nicely revealing much of the complexity to come with further bottle age. All in all this is lovely and elegant stuff. It did need some air to really show what it had and while this early peak was pleasurable I think there is a long life ahead with much more positive development to be had. We only followed this for about two hours and I can't help but feel we might have gotten more aromatic complexity with even more air. A taster commented that this showing was Burgundy meets New Zealand which I agree with. Given the prices of these wines now I have to say this is poor QPR, but it's still fun and important to try wines from the tippy top producer.
Perfect bottle, very high fill. This pours light garnet in the glass with moderate bricking. The nose is lovely on opening but is fascinating to watch evolve over two hours. Aromas are of cold smoke, crushed granite, fresh and raw cured bacon, dried cherries, cured olives, and whisps of pepper. Very alive. The palate is elegant and silky showing the dried cherries of the nose, turning to medium minus tannin, medium acid. The finish is only moderate in length but the texture is great. All in all this is just a gorgeous fully mature, prototypical northern rhone syrah if leaning more toward the side of elegance than others which can at times lean more into power. The moment about 30 minutes after first pouring where the glass just wreaked of fresh raw bacon straight from the butchers counter was quite thrilling to my palate. Really lovely stuff.
1998 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc 92 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
This pours deep gold in the glass. The nose is mature and on the downslope of bruised apple, lightly nutty oxidation, toasted almond, dried bay leaf, and dried lemon rind. The palate shows solid medium acid keeping some vibrance, while the light nutty oxidation and dried lemon peel shows this is a little tired. There is also a sense of waxyness and salinity to the texture here. All in all this is a nice bottle of Chave Hermitage Blanc if a little below the expectations one might have for such a bottle and a little further down the development curve than you might expect.
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2000 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Echezeaux 94 Points
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru
This pours medium ruby, a touch cloudy, with some flecks of pink and a watery rim. The nose on opening is dominated my menthol, but after about an hour unfurls to show fresh cherry, grapefruit rind, rose petals, a whisp of ginger, dry dusty soil, sandalwood, fresh thyme, a touch of integrating oak, and some of that menthol still lingering. The palate is also lovely with cherry and grapefruit dominating the texture turning to medium minus tannin and medium acid and then a long finish that fans out nicely revealing much of the complexity to come with further bottle age. All in all this is lovely and elegant stuff. It did need some air to really show what it had and while this early peak was pleasurable I think there is a long life ahead with much more positive development to be had. We only followed this for about two hours and I can't help but feel we might have gotten more aromatic complexity with even more air. A taster commented that this showing was Burgundy meets New Zealand which I agree with. Given the prices of these wines now I have to say this is poor QPR, but it's still fun and important to try wines from the tippy top producer.
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1982 Patrick Jasmin Côte-Rôtie 95 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
Perfect bottle, very high fill. This pours light garnet in the glass with moderate bricking. The nose is lovely on opening but is fascinating to watch evolve over two hours. Aromas are of cold smoke, crushed granite, fresh and raw cured bacon, dried cherries, cured olives, and whisps of pepper. Very alive. The palate is elegant and silky showing the dried cherries of the nose, turning to medium minus tannin, medium acid. The finish is only moderate in length but the texture is great. All in all this is just a gorgeous fully mature, prototypical northern rhone syrah if leaning more toward the side of elegance than others which can at times lean more into power. The moment about 30 minutes after first pouring where the glass just wreaked of fresh raw bacon straight from the butchers counter was quite thrilling to my palate. Really lovely stuff.
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