Exploring Northern Rhone Syrah

Tasting night to explore Northern Rhone and specifically Syrah. 9 wines which were organized semi-blind : wines tasted were known in advance but served blind over 5 flights. 14 people.
Tasting impressions, ratings were done before guessing and discovering all bottles.

Flight 1 : Cornas Voge Les Chailles 2010 & Cote Rotie Gaillard 2007
Flight 2 : Saint Joseph Lieu-dit Guigal 2017 & Croze-Hermitage Graillot La Guiraude 2015
Flight 3 : Saint Joseph Chave 2018 (alone)
Flight 4 : Hermitage Tardieu-Laurent 2009 & Cornas Clape 2009
Flight 5 : Cote Rotie La Barbarine Gangloff 2016 & Cote Rotie Jamet 2003

• 2010 Alain Voge Cornas Les Chailles 87 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas

  half-bodied wine, a little floral on the nose but also marks of élevage with wood and vanilla. On the palate, also half-bodied, the wine lacks aromatic complexity, length or concentration. The tannins stick and dry out at the end. Disappointing

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• 2007 Pierre Gaillard Côte-Rôtie 93 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

  bricky colour, fading at the edges. Nose of dried flowers, potpourri, pepper, spicy. rRed fruits, a little cocoa, well-integrated tannins, good length. Delicate Cote Rôtie, in a very good place.

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• 2017 E. Guigal St. Joseph Lieu-Dit St. Joseph Rouge 90 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph

  Primary fruit, intense, lots of wood vanilla, decadent élevage. Palate : Intense cassis coulis, mocha, a touch too sweet for me, still have to wait a little to have everything integrate more A touch milky ? Well made, consensual, international style, very Guigal, not a terroir wine. Blind, it would be tough to guess Northern Rhone vs. new world Syrah.

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• 2015 Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage La Guiraude 91 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Crozes-Hermitage

  Very concentrated, hint of meat, pepper. Palate is strict, tannins not yet integrated, a little aggressive. I'm not sure they will polish. Aromatics are cornas-like, the more savage and animal syrah, olive, meat, pepper. Lengthy. A good and interesting wine without being a great one, lacks in terms of texture. A wine that calls for meat to provide a little fat and comfort, at this stage in any case.

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• 2018 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave St. Joseph 93 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph

  Very concentrated wine, ripe black fruits, dense colour, nose and mouth. Texture is textbook Chave, powdery tannins, decadent velvet. Was very nice but will have a very long life. I enjoyed it, fully primary, but will wait for quite a bit for my next bottle, hoping for more aromatic complexity in the future.

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• 2009 Tardieu-Laurent Hermitage 86 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  meh, very ripe, alcohol quite present. Tannins are a little drying, . Maybe a touch of volatile, or even a slight metallic aftertaste ? Probably not the best bottle for a showing but was very forgettable on the night.

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• 2009 Domaine Auguste Clape Cornas 94 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas

  Complete wine. Ripe wine, concentrated, structure, aristocratic, like tempered steel. It's a baby with a big future.

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• 2016 Mathilde et Yves Gangloff Côte-Rôtie La Barbarine 98 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

  Just starting to brick on the edges. Nose is very pretty, floral.
  Mouth is "Burgundian", finesse all the way. Red fruits rather than black, floral nuances, tea. The texture is silky and the wine is very very long, endless. Absolutely WOW wine and in my syrah panthéon.

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• 2003 Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie 92 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

  On the nose pepper, coffee, toasty note, cassis, meat. Drinking well, rather ripe fruits, cassis, and soft spices, a meaty and gamey note as well. In a good place now, going tertiary now so depends on your taste. Aromatics are on the ripe side without going over the edge like so many other 2003s.

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All 14 people had Gangloff in their top 3, it also won by far the most 1st places.
Cote Rotie ended up trusting the collective podium with Jamet and Gaillard very close 2nd /3rd. Might be the viognier and the more "feminine" expressions of the Cote Rotie (at least for Gangloff and Gaillard).
For my part, while I enjoyed both wine, I was very impressed by Clape 2009 which looks like a monster wine in the making and am always a fan of the texture of Chave wines.

Two clunkers on the night from Voge (which I often enjoy a lot) and Tardieu-Laurent which I hadn't tasted before the night and won't be seeking out...