It's definitely not my style of wine, but I have to admit this was pretty good as far as Chave blanc goes. A nice nose with a pleasant peach and vanilla note. On the palate, this is definitely low acid, but generally feels balanced, thanks to the concentration, and mercifully this isn't too thick and oily either.
Get to finally taste what is a glaring hole in my tasting experiences with Clape. Of course, this is the worst vintage in recent memory, so expectations were tempered. At the end of the day, this drinks like a Cotes-du-Rhone. It's on its last legs (which you would expect for a 20-year-old wine). Thin, but not weedy, this is just a wine that is truly a product of the vintage, and frankly I kind of respect it. Is it a great wine? No. But it was definitely worthy of attention all the same.
Served double blind. Meaty and fading, but clearly something from the 80s given the browning fruit. Not much oak influence here, but this definitely feels like it's on the decline. A bit of shock on the reveal as 1. this didn't have as much awful oak as Chapoutier tends to have, and 2. this tastes at least 15 years older than it is.
This might be my best experience with this wine, which I've always felt has been one of Allemand's weakest efforts that decade. It's definitely still got a smidge of green and is very much on the lighter side here. Lovely silky tannins (classic Allemand texture, of course) with a perfumed delicacy. I guess what feels weak and thin one day might be perfumed and delicate the next.
One of my favourites tonight, even if it was a little more meaty and feral than I tend to like. I really enjoyed the black fruited-profile, the intensity, and the purity of the fruit here. Plenty of gas in the tank, this has me wondering why I don't buy Levet for my own cellar...
Next to the Levet Chavaroche, this was clearly lighter, with fruit that was more on the red side of the spectrum. Not much syrah profile though -- this is missing a lot of the aromatics, even though this is still quite clearly Northern Rhone syrah. Probably in an awkward place right now.
Surprisingly light for the vintage -- bright red fruit and all. Not nearly at the level of the 2015, this has the appropriate intensity for the appellation but if I tasted this blind and tried to call the vintage, I would definitely not have picked 2018. Slightly dilute.
Not a particularly elegant syrah -- just intense black fruit. Not showing too much syrah character as well, though if served blind syrah would have been the right guess. Plenty of fruit, but just not particularly compelling.
Tastes more like oak than syrah. Maybe it'll integrate, but I'm not betting on it. Nothing like the brilliant 2016 Turque last week. The scores clearly reflect the label, not the wine.
Drink up. This is showing its age and thinning out (not unlike the 2002 Cornas, honestly). Fully mature and on the downslope, with a leathery tone to the relatively light red fruit.
Burly and black-fruited, this just doesn't feel like it's anywhere ready for enjoyment. Especially next to the Levet Chavaroche, this feels shut down and quite grumpy. I like the fruit here -- I think there's enough that this will be able to make old bones. Maybe it'll turn out like that brilliant 1999 that I had a week or two ago.
Not quite showing as well right now -- this is kind of ornery and closed down, with the fruit not showing the expected purity and brightness of 2016. Moderately tannic with lots of white pepper, as Gonon often shows. Likely better with a few years, though I'm not convinced there's enough fruit here for this wine to age 20-30 years.
St. Joseph is the most marginal of the four great terroirs in the Northern Rhone, so dumping a bunch of oak on it does it no favours. Bitter toasted oak dominates anything syrah-related here. A real waste.
Don't know if something was wrong with this bottle or if it was just Rayas sucking (which honestly is par for the course with Rayas). Possibly it was a refermentation because this was slightly fizzy and drank like an Occhipinti. Light, with a citrus pith note (which of course is also typical for Rayas). Very underwhelming with a laughable market price.
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
15% abv. This definitely shows its weight and isn't kidding around. But this bottle didn't show as well as my previous experiences with this wine -- it felt a little closed and lacked expressiveness, even though there were elements of what I remembered if you made the effort to look. I'll let my other bottles rest for a good more number of years.
Served double blind. Thin and light with a Beaujolais/post-modern feel to it making me think this was Souhaut. Red fruited with a slight strawberry note. Just not my style.
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
From magnum. Black fruited, with a tinge of iron here. But relatively clean for CdP, which I really did appreciate. Shows moderate weight and generally good balance. One of the better regular Beaucastel I remember having, until I tasted the 2014 later in the evening.
From magnum. Actually pretty decent for Jaboulet -- even if at the end of the day it still makes the wine a little boring. Good black fruit here with some leathery characteristics on the palate. Moderately resolved, with a good amount of both tannin and fruit left.
Probably the best bottle of Chapoutier I've ever had. Surprisingly restrained use of oak here (way better than the 2011 Guigal Landonne tonight). Served blind, this would have been readily identifiable as syrah (and not Chapoutier). All that said, this is still fairly nondescript and at best is a relatively anonymous, serviceable bottle of syrah. Which of course makes it a phenomenally great bottle of Chapoutier.
France, Languedoc Roussillon, Languedoc, Vin de Pays de l'Hérault
Intense, tannic, black-fruited wine with lots of leathery qualities that just isn't as expressive as I would have hoped. Impressive concentration and density, but this needs time to mellow out. A good wine, but overhyped after Vaillé's passing.
Served double blind. Intense purple fruit with a lifted perfume, with a little bit of playing the player, made me guess a 2018 or 2019 JM Stephan. As textbook as it comes for the producer nowadays, I like the ripe, sweet fruit and the lifted aromatics from the viognier. Maybe a touch too overtly fruity for me.
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
One of the best bottles of young Beaucastel I've ever had. Clean, bright, with dense berry notes and none of the stone fruit (plums, prunes, etc.) here. Crisp and clean, but also shows the limitations of the appellation -- it's just getting so hard to make wines like this anymore.
Initially disjoint with ripe fruit on the palate but fading into tart acidity, this got better with a few hours of air as it filled out (I'm drinking the last of the bottle as I write these notes). Definitely bright and clean, with mostly notes of tart fruit here. Still not quite the richness and breadth that I like in my champagne, even though I've liked some of the other bottlings from Pouillon in the past.
Nice freshness despite the botrytis and drying. Honeyed, with some floral notes as well. Relatively low acidity and a little angular on the palate, but an excellent sweet northern Rhone wine (I have to admit I haven't had that many, though).
Reductive to a fault on the nose. The palate is much better with surprisingly high acidity for a Condrieu. I'd have loved to try this if the nose hadn't been so marred by the sulphur.
2018 Georges Laval Champagne Premier Cru Brut Nature Cumières 85 Points
France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru
From magnum. I don't get these wines. Good for Laval but still more disjoint with an odd angular aspect to it.
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2013 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc 88 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
It's definitely not my style of wine, but I have to admit this was pretty good as far as Chave blanc goes. A nice nose with a pleasant peach and vanilla note. On the palate, this is definitely low acid, but generally feels balanced, thanks to the concentration, and mercifully this isn't too thick and oily either.
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2002 Domaine Auguste Clape Cornas 88 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
Get to finally taste what is a glaring hole in my tasting experiences with Clape. Of course, this is the worst vintage in recent memory, so expectations were tempered. At the end of the day, this drinks like a Cotes-du-Rhone. It's on its last legs (which you would expect for a 20-year-old wine). Thin, but not weedy, this is just a wine that is truly a product of the vintage, and frankly I kind of respect it. Is it a great wine? No. But it was definitely worthy of attention all the same.
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1999 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Le Méal 88 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
Served double blind. Meaty and fading, but clearly something from the 80s given the browning fruit. Not much oak influence here, but this definitely feels like it's on the decline. A bit of shock on the reveal as 1. this didn't have as much awful oak as Chapoutier tends to have, and 2. this tastes at least 15 years older than it is.
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2011 Thierry Allemand Cornas Chaillot 93 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
This might be my best experience with this wine, which I've always felt has been one of Allemand's weakest efforts that decade. It's definitely still got a smidge of green and is very much on the lighter side here. Lovely silky tannins (classic Allemand texture, of course) with a perfumed delicacy. I guess what feels weak and thin one day might be perfumed and delicate the next.
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2013 Bernard Levet Côte-Rôtie La Chavaroche / La Péroline 93 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
One of my favourites tonight, even if it was a little more meaty and feral than I tend to like. I really enjoyed the black fruited-profile, the intensity, and the purity of the fruit here. Plenty of gas in the tank, this has me wondering why I don't buy Levet for my own cellar...
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2013 Domaine Barge Côte-Rôtie Côte Brune 90 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
Next to the Levet Chavaroche, this was clearly lighter, with fruit that was more on the red side of the spectrum. Not much syrah profile though -- this is missing a lot of the aromatics, even though this is still quite clearly Northern Rhone syrah. Probably in an awkward place right now.
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2018 Pierre Gonon Ardèche Les Iles Feray 88 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Ardèche
Surprisingly light for the vintage -- bright red fruit and all. Not nearly at the level of the 2015, this has the appropriate intensity for the appellation but if I tasted this blind and tried to call the vintage, I would definitely not have picked 2018. Slightly dilute.
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2018 Philippe Pacalet Cornas 88 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
Not a particularly elegant syrah -- just intense black fruit. Not showing too much syrah character as well, though if served blind syrah would have been the right guess. Plenty of fruit, but just not particularly compelling.
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2011 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Landonne 80 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
Tastes more like oak than syrah. Maybe it'll integrate, but I'm not betting on it. Nothing like the brilliant 2016 Turque last week. The scores clearly reflect the label, not the wine.
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2008 Domaine Auguste Clape Cornas Renaissance 88 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
Drink up. This is showing its age and thinning out (not unlike the 2002 Cornas, honestly). Fully mature and on the downslope, with a leathery tone to the relatively light red fruit.
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2013 Domaine Auguste Clape Cornas 90 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
Burly and black-fruited, this just doesn't feel like it's anywhere ready for enjoyment. Especially next to the Levet Chavaroche, this feels shut down and quite grumpy. I like the fruit here -- I think there's enough that this will be able to make old bones. Maybe it'll turn out like that brilliant 1999 that I had a week or two ago.
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2017 Domaine le Sang des Cailloux Vacqueyras Un Sang Blanc 88 Points
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Vacqueyras
Slightly fizzy with a honeyed/floral quality. Not too oily and a pleasant lightness to it, especially for a white Rhone.
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2016 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph 93 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph
Not quite showing as well right now -- this is kind of ornery and closed down, with the fruit not showing the expected purity and brightness of 2016. Moderately tannic with lots of white pepper, as Gonon often shows. Likely better with a few years, though I'm not convinced there's enough fruit here for this wine to age 20-30 years.
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2010 Delas Frères St. Joseph Cuvée Francois de Tournon 80 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph
St. Joseph is the most marginal of the four great terroirs in the Northern Rhone, so dumping a bunch of oak on it does it no favours. Bitter toasted oak dominates anything syrah-related here. A real waste.
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1978 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Flawed
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Very, very oxidized.
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2012 Château des Tours Vacqueyras 85 Points
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Vacqueyras
Don't know if something was wrong with this bottle or if it was just Rayas sucking (which honestly is par for the course with Rayas). Possibly it was a refermentation because this was slightly fizzy and drank like an Occhipinti. Light, with a citrus pith note (which of course is also typical for Rayas). Very underwhelming with a laughable market price.
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2012 Saint Cosme Côte-Rôtie Flawed
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
Initially I found that this was just boring, but revisiting this at the end of the night, it was clear that the issue was TCA.
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2011 Henri Bonneau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve des Célestins 90 Points
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
15% abv. This definitely shows its weight and isn't kidding around. But this bottle didn't show as well as my previous experiences with this wine -- it felt a little closed and lacked expressiveness, even though there were elements of what I remembered if you made the effort to look. I'll let my other bottles rest for a good more number of years.
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2011 Domaine Gramenon Côtes du Rhône Cuvée A Pascal S. 85 Points
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône
Served double blind. Thin and light with a Beaujolais/post-modern feel to it making me think this was Souhaut. Red fruited with a slight strawberry note. Just not my style.
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2006 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 90 Points
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
From magnum. Black fruited, with a tinge of iron here. But relatively clean for CdP, which I really did appreciate. Shows moderate weight and generally good balance. One of the better regular Beaucastel I remember having, until I tasted the 2014 later in the evening.
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1997 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle 90 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
From magnum. Actually pretty decent for Jaboulet -- even if at the end of the day it still makes the wine a little boring. Good black fruit here with some leathery characteristics on the palate. Moderately resolved, with a good amount of both tannin and fruit left.
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2012 M. Chapoutier Côte-Rôtie La Mordorée 90 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
Probably the best bottle of Chapoutier I've ever had. Surprisingly restrained use of oak here (way better than the 2011 Guigal Landonne tonight). Served blind, this would have been readily identifiable as syrah (and not Chapoutier). All that said, this is still fairly nondescript and at best is a relatively anonymous, serviceable bottle of syrah. Which of course makes it a phenomenally great bottle of Chapoutier.
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2013 Domaine de la Grange des Pères Vin de Pays de l'Hérault 93 Points
France, Languedoc Roussillon, Languedoc, Vin de Pays de l'Hérault
Intense, tannic, black-fruited wine with lots of leathery qualities that just isn't as expressive as I would have hoped. Impressive concentration and density, but this needs time to mellow out. A good wine, but overhyped after Vaillé's passing.
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2018 Jean-Michel Stephan Côte-Rôtie Coteaux de Bassenon 90 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
Served double blind. Intense purple fruit with a lifted perfume, with a little bit of playing the player, made me guess a 2018 or 2019 JM Stephan. As textbook as it comes for the producer nowadays, I like the ripe, sweet fruit and the lifted aromatics from the viognier. Maybe a touch too overtly fruity for me.
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2014 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 90 Points
France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
One of the best bottles of young Beaucastel I've ever had. Clean, bright, with dense berry notes and none of the stone fruit (plums, prunes, etc.) here. Crisp and clean, but also shows the limitations of the appellation -- it's just getting so hard to make wines like this anymore.
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2018 Roger Pouillon et Fils Champagne Les Terres Froides 90 Points
France, Champagne
Initially disjoint with ripe fruit on the palate but fading into tart acidity, this got better with a few hours of air as it filled out (I'm drinking the last of the bottle as I write these notes). Definitely bright and clean, with mostly notes of tart fruit here. Still not quite the richness and breadth that I like in my champagne, even though I've liked some of the other bottlings from Pouillon in the past.
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1999 Les Vins de Vienne Condrieu Cepées Caties 90 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Condrieu
Nice freshness despite the botrytis and drying. Honeyed, with some floral notes as well. Relatively low acidity and a little angular on the palate, but an excellent sweet northern Rhone wine (I have to admit I haven't had that many, though).
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1983 Freiherr Langwerth von Simmern Eltviller Sonnenberg Riesling Eiswein Flawed
Germany, Rheingau
#29-84. Sadly corked. The palate was simply brilliant if you could get past the TCA. Shame.
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2017 Domaine Yves Cuilleron Condrieu La Petite Cote 85 Points
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Condrieu
Reductive to a fault on the nose. The palate is much better with surprisingly high acidity for a Condrieu. I'd have loved to try this if the nose hadn't been so marred by the sulphur.
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