(Mostly) 1998, 2005, 2012 Northern Rhône

Chicago, IL
Tasted Friday, October 27, 2023 by acyso with 184 views

Flight 1 (2 Notes)

Flight 2 (5 Notes)

  • 2012 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Landonne 93 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

    Shows a fair bit more oak than the four wines in the single blind 2012 flight. Quite dense and powerful, but the fruit isn't as precise as I would have liked. In some sense there's a little muddiness to this wine. But the weight and stature is certainly impressive, and I do like the sweet fruit notes here. There is no doubt in my mind of the longevity of this wine.

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  • 2012 Mathilde et Yves Gangloff Côte-Rôtie La Barbarine 93 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

    Served single blind. Of the flight, I found this the lightest in style, with a relatively lightweight palate and maybe just a smidgen of the red fruit and pepper on the nose. Not too much tannin on the back end either. I was pretty convinced that this was the Gonon.

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  • 2012 Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie 93 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

    Served single blind. A distinctive poblano pepper note here that had me thinking that this was the Allemand (with the 2011 Chaillot on the mind). This shows a modest floral note as well, and the aromatics are incredibly expressive here. Maybe the lighter tannic structure could have clued me in that this wasn't in fact the Reynard.

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  • 2012 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph 93 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph

    Served single blind. Very savoury and another wine that was relatively lighter in texture. Modest, but mostly resolved tannins, with much less emphasis on the backend weight (unlike the final wine). Red-fruited and delicate; for my palate quite approachable and drinkable now. Thinking back to the 2012 Jamet I had a year and a half ago, I guessed this was the Jamet.

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  • 2012 Thierry Allemand Cornas Reynard 90 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas

    Served single blind. I think I must have gotten the tannic structure here confused for oak (and somehow thought that the Gangloff would have shown more modern in that sense). So I guessed that this was the Gangloff, when instead it was just a really big wine with plenty of tannin. Dark and somewhat heavy, this was my least favourite wine of the four single-blinded 2012 wines. Go figure.

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Flight 3 (4 Notes)

  • 2005 Thierry Allemand Cornas Chaillot 93 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas

    Been a while since I've had this; this bottle was very intense, showing lots and lots of black fruit. But the overall fruit was a little candied and imprecise, unlike more modern ripe vintages of Allemand. The tannins are a bit leathery and don't quite have the textbook silkiness I expect. Chalk it up to the vintage, I think -- a wine that clearly needs plenty more time to really get to a good spot.

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  • 2005 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph Flawed

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph

    I think this bottle suffered from a mild case of TCA, and in any case, while the TCA didn't get worse with air, the wine just felt somewhat stripped.

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  • 2005 Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie 93 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

    Pretty large-scaled syrah, especially for Jamet. There's a good feral tone to this wine, but also plenty of salinity, meat, and smoke -- many of the things that I truly like about syrah. It's pretty ripe and shows plenty of fruit now, but this is more about the structure than straight-up enjoyment right now. Probably more interesting to let this age.

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  • 2005 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage 93 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

    Explosive nose that seriously smells like blood -- there is so much iron here. Very, very intense with lots of fruit on the palate. That said, this isn't as tightly put-together as the 2009 or 2015. An impressive wine for its stature, but I think the handling of hot vintages at the Domaine is done better now than back in 2005. It feels weird to say, but this edition might be a little over-the-top. I'm curious to see where this goes, but that's probably a 20+ year trip.

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Flight 4 (3 Notes)

  • 1998 Marc Sorrel Hermitage Le Gréal 93 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

    An excellent bottle, and I think it certainly held its own in pretty tough company. More rustic than the Chave, but with lovely aromatics. More driven by acid and structure than Chave, yet fully approachable now. Overall this doesn't feel like it'll have as long a life, but for drinking now, this is amply good.

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  • 1998 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

    Hard to say if this bottle was actually correct. It felt kind of brown and muddy, and maybe suffering from a slight bit of heat damage? The fruit was also a slight bit stewy. A huge whiff next to the brilliant 1997.

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  • 1997 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage 98 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

    An absolutely stunning bottle of this tonight. Such an aromatically intense note of meat, red fruit, and other syrah things. More of a rustic style than modern Chave, but still very much a clean wine. On the palate, mature fruit and savoury syrah elements. Silky, resolved tannins and sufficient acidity to balance the fruit. Stunning; absolutely stunning. This is the best vintage of drinking Chave still reasonably available in the market right now.

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Flight 5 (6 Notes)

Flight 6 (3 Notes)

  • 1994 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque 93 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

    I really liked this -- there was an intense strawberry note that was somewhat unexpected. Very fruit-forward and almost lacking a bit of the usual elegance of La Turque. Black pepper, but not much brine or smoke. Silky tannins, but a big, powerful palate that actually feels pretty resolved, even if the overall flavour profile could benefit from another decade.

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  • 1987 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque 95 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

    I've loved the few 1987 Guigals I've had -- I think they really overperfomed for the vintage. This was a fully mature example of syrah, with expressive floral and herbal perfume on the nose. Mature secondary notes with modest autumnal notes here. Very much ready for enjoyment now, with limited further upside in my opinion.

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  • 1986 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque 93 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

    A little less impressive having this next to the 1987. This was showing even more mature, but still had lots of the same aromatic perfume. However, it's definitely even more autumnal, and while there is still some dried fruit here, it's not as bright and precise as its younger sibling. Drink up.

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Flight 7 (3 Notes)

  • 2012 Marie et Pierre Bénetière Côte-Rôtie Cordeloux 93 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

    Intensely red-fruited, with an aromatic profile that reminds me a bit of Jean-Michel Stephan. Very slightly mulchy right at the beginning, but that note doesn't hang around for very long. Good acidity with relatively light palate weight; this seems like it's just getting into its drinking window.

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  • 2019 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Côtes du Rhône Parallèle “45” 88 Points

    France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône

    Served double blind. Clearly syrah with its black pepper aromatics, but the fruit is too forward and jammy, and I thought it was some sort of Californian thing with the juiciness so prominent. On the reveal of a $13 bottle, I have to say I'm really impressed at the quality of this.

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  • 2012 Joh. Jos. Prüm Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese 93 Points

    Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

    Intense Prüm sponti nose with that classic petrol note (which I suspect is actually from the yeast in the cellars). In any case, the 2012 vintage may well have mellowed out from when I first tasted it at Rieslingfeier so many years ago. This doesn't have quite the same weight as the Wehlener Sonnenuhr or Graacher Himmelreich, but all the right elements are there, so even then this is a very drinkable and delicious way to end the dinner. All that acidity really helps refresh.

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