Northern Rhone Dinner (2012/2005/1998 focus)

Chez Lagragne
Tasted Friday, October 27, 2023 by Nanda with 122 views

Introduction

Age your Northern Rhones!

Flight 1 (5 Notes)

  • 2012 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Landonne

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

    Large-scale and bold wine with overt wood and polished fruit at this stage. Meat, pepper and smoke notes are there, just way in the background. Clear potential with another 10-15 years of cellaring. My #4/5 in the flight.

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  • 2012 Mathilde et Yves Gangloff Côte-Rôtie La Barbarine

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

    Single blind. Nicely floral aromatics with olive and a unique grapefruit pith. Texturally approachable and seamless, but the nuances are minimal with some light olive notes. Needs a decade. My #2/5. Thought this was the Gonon due to its relative approachability.

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  • 2012 Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

    Single blind. Aromatically this improved with time in the glass, yielding some meat, olive and black pepper notes. The palate starts open-knit with lovely florals and black pepper, but is quite truncated by a gritty structured finish. Another wine that needs 10-15 years. My #1/5. Guessed Alemand for it's relatively open-knit start.

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  • 2012 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph

    Single blind. The most intensely meaty florals of the flight. On the palate, I also picked up more overt meat / bacon notes with some florals. Felt the most evolved of the flight, but still a decade short of maturity. My #3/5. Guessed Jamet because of the bacony note.

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  • 2012 Thierry Allemand Cornas Reynard

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas

    Single blind. Well, this wine was all over the place and much of that not in a great way -- nail polish and glossy fruit with at least the perception of vanilla oak. Shrill and tight. One can only hope/believe, this is far too young and needs another 10+ years of cellaring. My #5/5. Guessed Gangloff.

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Flight 2 (4 Notes)

  • 2005 Thierry Allemand Cornas Chaillot

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas

    Presently showing ripe and candied with a mix of berry fruit. There is freshness and structure to carry the fruit. Some interesting white pepper notes in the otherwise monolithic palate. Needs 10+ years in this large-scaled vintage.

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  • 2005 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph Flawed

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph

    Just barely corked. Not a lot of TCA but enough and the wine was otherwise stripped.

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  • 2005 Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

    Attractive black fruit and bacon fat aromatics. Rich, big palate that is more sweet and less meaty at this stage with a wood influence that I'm not crazy about. Needs a decade to come together.

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  • 2005 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

    Wow, gorgeous and effusive aromas of black fruit, meat, black pepper, spice and florals. Decadent palate with layers and layers of meaty fruit with plenty of structure to support. Delicious enough and a clear WOTF for current enjoyment, but the greatness will truly come out in 10+ years.

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Flight 3 (3 Notes)

  • 1998 Marc Sorrel Hermitage Le Gréal

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

    Super interesting and evolved aromas of mature, bloody black fruit laced with herbs and meatiness. Rustic palate with some grittiness and brininess that all hangs together quite nicely.

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  • 1998 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

    Tasted a bit muddled and demure relative to the 97 served side-by-side and my prior experiences with this wine. Good enough, but 1998 Chave should not be simply good. Questionable bottle IMHO.

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  • 1997 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage 98 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

    A stunning wine that is totally in the zone. Explosive nose of meaty black fruit with intense black pepper. Palate is seamless with rich, concentrated fruit that dazzles with Northern Rhone complexity. At peak and along with the 98 La Turque my WOTN.

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Flight 4 (5 Notes)

Flight 5 (3 Notes)

  • 1994 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

    94/87/86. Super interesting wine that is showing plenty of complexity and nuance but the fruit is still so youthful and even primary in many ways. Let's call it an early peak with upside from here.

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  • 1987 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque 96 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

    I don't hear much about 1987 N. Rhone, but this was an exceptional wine in my top three tonight. At peak and so expressive yet still packs a punch. Makes a strong case for 35+ years of cellaring.

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  • 1986 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

    94/87/86. Overshadowed by the more complete 1987, but this is no slouch in terms of the complexity and nuance that comes with aging. A touch more evolved and lightweight relative to the 87.

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Flight 6 (1 Note)

  • 2012 Marie et Pierre Bénetière Côte-Rôtie Cordeloux

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

    Late night PnP and this was an exception to the rule, where young wines did not showing expressively (be that the producer style or our relative palate fatigue after 20 N. Rhones). Having said that, you can't deny the silky approachability of this wine combined with clear/intense meat, olive and black pepper nuances that the earlier 2012s did not yet have.

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