2015 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Crozes-Hermitage Domaine de Thalabert
Community Tasting Note
Oechsle Likes this wine:
Sunday, April 30, 2023 - When a professional critic scores this 3 points from perfection and it falls Well short they do themselves a disservice. Makes me wonder if the Domaine poured the same wine to the critic that we the public get. Scoring this along the lines of an Ampuis or La La’s is just crazy talk. Their Wine Critic Guild ID Card should be temporarily suspended. Lol, Nose lacks perceivable fruit, dog paw, Mushroom (aka, wet cardboard), Lemon, Green peppercorns, mineral lift. On palate, tannins are still grippy and moisture wicking but, they are powdery fine and integrating. Starting to soften and loose some of its angles. Acidity better integrated then 5 years back but, still robust. Fruits beginning to peek through Black currant and morello cherry. Still dominated by gravelly terroir. Hints of smoke and cured meats. Muscular and full bodied this needs a rich fatty meal, roast leg of lamb or braised meats. Enjoyed over 2 days served with a slight chill. It’s in a good place right now to try if you have several bottles on hand otherwise give it another 2-3 years in cold storage. Purchased upon release and stored accordingly. Day 2 after vacuum cold storage acidity more pronounced and sharp with metallic taste developing. Generous amount of granular sediment… Na zdrowie
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12 comments have been posted
9 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue (6,833 views)
Comment posted by thesternowl:
4/30/2023 3:16:00 PM - Brutal take on the critic thing (but really, who cares). Good TN though, thank you! These were very fun (giving) upon release but they shut down pretty hard a few years back and now it's time for patience. That being said, this wine is always going to be way different than La La's or even Ampuis for that matter (regardless of how it was scored by the critics)...the wines at Jaboulet are made in a different style than that of Guigal and it's just different terroir for that matter.
Comment posted by Oechsle:
4/30/2023 6:23:00 PM - The point trying to be made was sometimes critics over score. This isn’t a Guigal offering and its objectively different but, at least scoring a turque or mouline 97 would be more reasonable. Do you think this was or ever will be a 97 or 96 or 95 or 94? Basketball scores are becoming the norm from critics and the side effect is overpriced wines. This is $60.00 today...Na zdrowie
Comment posted by thesternowl:
5/1/2023 8:11:00 AM - @Oechsle to be fair, better wine is being made today than any other point in history so I expect most to be "basketball scores". And anyway, I wouldn't bother getting upset about it. I stopped looking at reviews from critics a long time ago so their judgement on a wine and how it scores plays very little in my decision making. I find way more value following CT users whose palates resonate with my own.
Comment posted by Canoehead:
5/1/2023 11:20:00 PM - Dead on TN as well as the overall assessment of wine critic veracity in today’s industry. You’re on to something, critic guild cards should be revoked now and then to help reset the bar on quality assessment and enjoyment potential. I nominate Suckling for first suspension.
Comment posted by David J Cooper:
5/5/2023 7:46:00 AM - Interesting comment on critics. I am not sure who you refer to, but there are many who qualify. Gone are the days where incompetence was treated swiftly, as Dr Jay Miller was at the WA when his first report on Spanish wines was released.
I find Decanter to be the worst, why so many 97s?
Very nice note.
Comment posted by randyjc:
5/23/2023 6:45:00 PM - The note is just too harsh, and the criticism of the critic just seems arrogant. Without justification or experience to back it up. Sure, it’s fine to say “Geez, what was Walter Speller thinking….” No problem. Your palate may not align with theirs. But they taste thousands of wines and you tasted this and decided their ID card should be suspended. Why? Based on your analysis? You can be secure in your own scoring and thoughts on a wine without denigrating the critic. That said, your tasting note is solid though I like the wine more than you do. So who’s right? The answer? We both are.
Comment posted by randyjc:
5/24/2023 4:11:00 AM - I would like to add to my comment - and I apologize for being judgmental or, heaven forbid, harsh while commenting on a harsh comment. If I could edit what I wrote I would, so I apologize. But what is said does make for interesting fodder for discussion because it is sometimes puzzling to taste a wine and not understand how it was scored very high. Usually, I put that down to my own lack of experience. But for novices, the critics can be very misleading, especially if that novice believes she is supposed to like what the critics like. It takes a great deal of experience and confidence to trust your own palate and calibrate your own tastes to what critics say. And it takes time to understand who you trust and whose scores are nothing more than a curiosity. And, finally, the best step of all is to choose wines based on your own knowledge and experience and not read scores at all.
Comment posted by Putnam Weekley:
6/4/2023 4:59:00 PM - Aha. Northern Rhone Syrah. No category of wine has the ability to shut down so completely at no cost to its mature accomplishments. I could assume you have witnessed this phenomenon.
Comment posted by Oechsle:
6/4/2023 6:20:00 PM - @ Putnam Weekley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb47CstE7R4
Comment posted by Putnam Weekley:
6/5/2023 8:50:00 AM - Any variable of >3 years between notes, in the first decade of a NR Syrah bottling, might possibly be decisive. I wonder if that applies in this case. I certainly invite opinions about that.
The video ... "huh?"
Comment posted by Oechsle:
6/5/2023 11:55:00 AM - Only time will tell if this has shut down. It showed slightly better back in 2017 upon release when fruit was primary. Wines often go dormant during evolution but, I think this “shut down” concept is also sometimes used as crutch for underperforming wines. The Magic Doesn’t Always Happen. My biggest concern here is the high level of sharp acidity. Its tingling is the first sense my nostrils pick up, first and last thing my palate experiences. Preferring more balance I believe the acidity will be this wines Achilles Heel. Now keep in mind I scored this excellent while questioning a critic review of Outstanding. It started off a lively discussion and I’m still waiting for someone who has actually tried it to justify the 97. Context on video, As a child I always thought he was singing Phe Nome Non. Your post brought me back to fond memories of my childhood. Thank you.
Comment posted by Putnam Weekley:
6/5/2023 3:09:00 PM - I'll keep an eye out for a bottle to drink. Na zdrowie.