Commanderie des Costes du Rhone - Spring 2023 Kick-off
Gabriel Kruether
Tasted Tuesday, January 17, 2023 by MC2 Wines with 293 views
Introduction
Always fun to get together with the crowd. It's a great format with the BYO and ~35 people is just about right to be able to get around the room reasonably well with tastes. Lots of good things poured and I'm sure I missed a bunch.
Flight 1 (27 Notes)
FIRST COURSE
Citrus Cured Hamachi
macerated cucmbers * fermented farro * pickled sea lettuce
MID COURSE
Housemade Orecchiette
local water buffalo ragu * saffron-fennel puree * garlic breadcrumbs
ENTREE (choice of)
Hay Smoked - Two Week Aged Duck Breast (my choice)
spiced sweet potato * toasted cashews * apple mustard brown butter
or
Miso Marinated Painted Hills Strip Steak
spiced cauliflower * borlotti beans * green peppercorn jus
CHEESE COURSE
fig marmalade * toasted sourdough batard
Closing
My WOTN was the '95 Mouline which was just perfect. I also was pretty intrigued by the '69 Passat which got better in the glass. Loved the Gonon starter wine and the '89 Marie Beurrier. Plenty of great ones and a great menu to boot.
2019 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph Blanc Les Oliviers
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph
Provided by the society as a pre-dinner sipper for cocktail hour. This was just lovely and probably one of the best early sippers that we've had. Gonon has a certain deftness in his winemaking that creates a depth of flavor but a lightness in style at least compared to other Marsanne grapes. Very pretty.
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1969 André Passat Cornas
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
Bought this a few years ago sadly not for the auction price that CT lists and I've been interested to try it. Good fill and great color and surprisingly just wonderful. First impression was a bit too much acid and slightly over the hill but given a few minutes in the glass it gained a bit more body to it and was really lovely and lively. Because of the format all small pours so didn't get to follow for any signficant amount of time although I did leave a bit of my pour till towards the end and found it was even more delicious then. Opened and decanted for sediment before rebottling and then bringing to the dinner.
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2005 Domaine Pierre Usseglio & Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de mon Aïeul
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
From a magnum and I will say I was pleasantly surprised by this. I expected it to be all overly intense southern rhone as some other years I've had but this had a touch more restraint than that. Not quite at the level as the other wines being poured, but generally enjoyable.
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2007 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Continues to be a wine that is just too much. I love this producer but in this year it's an overfruited bomb and too intense. From a magnum. Unfortunate. Maybe with some more years it will settle some. Too young at this time.
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2017 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Cuvée A Tempo
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
First time with this wine for me. It's fresh and bright and fruity and almost has this essence of candy (think those rainbow ribbons of sugar) but without the sweet. Interesting and tasty.
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1983 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
Alas an imperfect bottle. It was opened and decanted for sediment and rebottled and at the time smelled fine and in fact the nose was always ok but there was something just a hint off and oxidized on the palate. Served side by side with the 1988 and the '88 I thought blew it away.
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1988 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
Poured side by side with the '83 which was a bit off. This was a great bottle though. Very vibrant and drinking nicely.
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1990 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
I've often said that this is a wine that never quite shows as well as I expect it to. This though was probably the best bottle I've had of it. Again very vibrant and bright and a bit more depth of character than the '83 or the '88 and darker fruits and a hint of the sanguine and just drinking very nicely.
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2003 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
A wine that I quite enjoy esp given the year that it was made. I think she might have done one of the best jobs in keeping some good balance there (perhaps the benefit of some whole cluster). Dark black fruits and a bit of spice.
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1976 Dervieux-Thaize Côte-Rôtie La Viallière
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
Really amazing to get to try as you don't see very many 76 Rhones running around these days. I quite liked it though. In a just perfect drinking window. Still lots of life to it. Again needed a touch of time to open in the glass but it was excellent.
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1981 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Birth year wine which is always fun and one of the few birth year wines where this is considered to be one of the better years of the wine. There's a hint of brett to this but overall drinking pretty well. The brett almost just adds a hint of interest to the style.
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1995 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Mouline
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
My WOTN. Many thanks to Nick for sharing. It was just excellent. All black fruits and lavender and spices and everything perfectly integrated. I would have thought it might come across as young but not at all. Truly beautiful.
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2014 Jean-Luc Colombo Cornas Les Ruchets
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
Just really incredibly young. It was more balanced than I expected or have sometimes had with his wines. Starting to integrate more. Lots of fruit to it. Would wait at least 10 more years though.
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2014 Domaine Auguste Clape Cornas
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
Again very very young but I think I perhaps haven't given this producer a totally fair shake. These younger versions are more elegant and traditional in style and enjoyable.
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1991 Rene Rostaing Côte-Rôtie Côte Blonde
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
Also a not quite perfect bottle although drinkable. Sad because this might have been the wine that I was most looking forward to. Love the producer and '91 is an excellent year. Hints of barnyard funk to it.
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1999 Rene Rostaing Côte-Rôtie Côte Blonde
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
Drinking incredibly well as always. Fun to see that we still have a bottle of this for the future. It's all dark and brooding and spice notes and just very tasty.
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1994 Noël Verset Cornas
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
Always a treat to get to drink Verset and this was no different although just a small taste. Nice blend between the feral and yet with this background of elegance and refinement to it. Sharper acid that is somehow well integrated into the wine.
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1999 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
First impression is a bit intense and big and yet with some time in the glass it starts to integrate a bit more. These are wines that can live forever and clearly need some time and air if drinking now. With that though it's a lovely wine.
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1970 J. Vidal-Fleury Côte-Rôtie
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
Really not the best luck today. Again it was a drinkable wine, but it was not the best version of itself. A bit of brett and funk. Too bad.
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1989 Henri Bonneau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Marie Beurrier
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Another contender for WOTN. This was just lovely. Red fruits and very well structured and balanced with that Bonneau power but also the Bonneau finesse. Beautiful.
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1994 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
Opened and decanted for awhile at the table. This honestly probably needed a bit more time to really open up and show itself. Came across as a bit big and intense. Darker fruits. SOme good spice. Almost a hint of clove. It's still enjoyable and just got better and better through the night.
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2001 Domaine Pierre Usseglio & Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve des Deux Frères
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
I'd never heard of this wine before so fun to try something different. This was much more what I expected from the mon Aieul that we had earlier. Bigger and riper and a bit more intense in style.
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1990 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Laurence
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
You cannot tell this is a 33 year old wine. It's big and bright and lots of fruit and a bit more intense and interesting to me since her 2003 was almost a bit more subdued in style. Fun to see the evolution.
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2000 Le Clos du Caillou Châteauneuf-du-Pape Domaine du Caillou
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
One of the producers that I've always liked in southern rhone although to be fair this was fairly far into the evening. Wine still going strong. Again it was lots of fruit and a bit more intensity in style.
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2010 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
My only Chave of the night and I somehow neglected to add it to my notes but I remember getting the pour so this is even more from memory. Good Chave style. All animalistic. A bit tight like 2010 can be. Going to be a lovely wine.
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1998 Domaine Auguste Clape Cornas
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
Much more classic in style. All well integrated. In the middle of a lot of CdPs a welcome respite. Very enjoyable wine.
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2007 Domaine de la Grange des Pères Vin de Pays de l'Hérault Blanc
France, Languedoc Roussillon, Languedoc, Vin de Pays de l'Hérault
I did not know there was a blanc although of course I probably should have. This was just lovely. Floral, bright, fresh, decent acid. Comes together nicely. A wine to keep an eye out for.
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