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Hermitage La Chapelle & Grange
10 Greek Street, London
Tasted October 4, 2016 by SimonG with 445 views
Flight 1 (1 note)
White - Sparkling
1990 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon
93 points
Mid to full straw. Nicely rich on the nose without any oxidative notes. Nicely mellow with a touch of ginger. Decent length. Lovely. ****
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Flight 2 (3 notes)
Red
1988 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle
92 points
Quite a dusty, deep nose. The blood and iron needs a little coaxing. Some green olive too. Quite dry and savoury with the olive coming through on the palate. Very smooth and mellow finish. Fruit recedes with air, on this bottle at least, lovely but drink up. ****
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Red
1995 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle
93 points
Dense, dark fruited, some blackcurrant in here. Bright spicy attack. Lots here. Higher acidity on the finish cf the 88, but far more expressive on the nose. ****
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Red
1996 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle
93 points
Dark nosed. A touch of dusty rubber but not too much so as to be off-putting. Dense and brooding on the attack. Fresh acidity on the finish. Just needs time, I think, to open and meld. This really starts to, if not relax, loosen its grip with air. The ugly duckling that turns in to something splendid? ****?
Flight 3 (4 notes)
Red
1973 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle
90 points
Iron and a little blood on the nose. Sweet-fruited on the attack. Still showing well albeit not in the first flush of youth. (*)**1/2
Red
1982 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle
91 points
A little sweet and sweaty on the nose. Sweet-fruited attack. Mellow, a little lift, just flirting with some volatility. Very sweet and sexy, but living on the edge a bit. ****
Red
1985 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle
94 points
Gorgeous nose. Proper HLC. Blood iron and olives. Meaty and dense with good acidity on the finish. Very complete. The savouriness of the 88 and the energy of the 95. Very harmonious. ****1/2
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Red
1983 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle
93 points
Quite dark and dense on the nose. Palate too. A touch of sweetness. A little warm but there's a touch of lift. Pretty harmonious without the immediate appeal of the 85. Some fine dry tannin on the finish. ****
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Flight 4 (3 notes)
Red
1992 Penfolds Grange
91 points
Thick, dense and gloopy. So much deeper and denser than the HLCs. Very leggy. A touch of mint and eucalyptus. Mellows in the glass, but still quite full on. **(**)
Red
1985 Penfolds Grange
92 points
Dark and savoury. Inky. Savoury on the attack. Porty, licorice, sweet but also a dry line to the finish. Starting to open and show some interesting development, but pretty monolithic for a 31 year old. **(**)
Red
1995 Penfolds Grange
91 points
Dense and dark. Volatile lift on the nose, in the banana and acetone spectrum, though it does blow off. Dark and dense and very hard to judge. *(***)?
Closing
Lovely to see the vintage and maturity variations within the HLC family style. The Grange were huge, almost impenetrable by comparison, with seemingly little development — not at all my thing, and consequently hard to judge, but one could tell they were impressive wines, just not really fun to drink they need a very long time I think. Sadly the one that might have been there, the 72, was a poor imitation for Madeira following a cork failure.