Beautiful wine (1st bottle corked) with a nose of green herbs and crisp ripe orchard fruits. The palate was unlike the usual Rhône whites we’ve had in that the core acidity provided clean forward structure for the fruit. The alcohol was restrained (13%) and this wine maintained a beautiful texture throughout. Simply astounding!
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An epic dinner of classic wines: This pours lightly cloudy light garnet with light bricking and light fleck of orange in the glass. The nose is just insane from first pour. Aromas absolutely blast olive brine, preserved meyer lemon peel, grilled meat, fresh plum, dried blueberry, toasted spices, granite, rose petal, sweaty animal fur, game, light roast coffee, and smoky incense. The palate is just as good as the nose with a bright red fruit and citrus tinged entry. Tannin is low and acid is medium plus. The finish is insanely long replaying much if the nose with a core of spectacular red and citrus fruit and massively complex secondary and tertiary notes. What an absolutely spectacular showing here. This from an immaculate bottle from a restaurant. Tremendous value at $595 CAD and sadly their last. This is a monumental wine and would please any lover of very traditional Rhones. In my mind it almost came across like a hypothetical blend of Rayas and a Northern Rhone. Wow.
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Sunday Lunch with Raveneau Chablis and Chave Hermitage (Piccino Restaurant, San Francisco): Browning throughout. Blueberry, menthol, wintergreen, and more than a bit of VA. Medium to lighter weight. Faded blue fruit. Dry, earthy finish with excessive acidity. This vintage has gotten a lot of props recently and was wonderful when I last had it in 2008 (!), but today it was simply over the hill.
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Chave: "In the name of science" (Chicago, IL): This was the vintage I was the most excited to taste tonight, and boy did this bottle just hit it out of the park. Incredibly complex and layered, with classic syrah smoked meat notes supplementing an array of red and black fruit on the nose. The palate is similarly detailed and complex, with intense notes of all the above very well delineated. Fruit that isn't as rounded and sweet as the 1990, but with lovely acidity to balance. A lengthy but shapely finish. I love that this has both the intensity and concentration, but a vein of acidity coursing through it, giving an electric, dynamic excitement to the wine. Legend.
Probably a few years past it’s best but very pleasant , had vague elements of green , good length, lightish but nice but does not deserve the price or high ratings ppl
At lunch in Hermitage with Jean-Louis & Erin Chave directly pulled by JL from their cellar. A truly beautiful wine highlighting the reason to age these wines. Fragrant complex aromatics of mature sour black cherries, fall leaves, and wet black gravel. Delicate in texture yet very good intensity of flavors. Pretty dried red fruits & black earthy notes. Loads of dry extract and black granite stone. Amazingly integrated and offering up so much pleasure!
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Beautiful bouquet that has drying rose petals, pastels, smoked meat, and great earth rusticity. A highly elegant example. Very soft. Burgundian. Spice, tobacco, florals. The palate is surprisingly ripe and round and is already has a soft mouthfeel, although there is still big red fruited power. Perfect integration and structure right now. Nose is really picking up steam and is highly expressive and showy. Beautiful. Have spent two hours with this now and it has really grown. Powerful. Long mineral finish. Terrific.
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PnPed. Pale red and somewhat cloudy. This is not what I expected. Very very Burgundian - in fact very similar on the nose to the 83 Amiot Chambolle Charmes that I liked so much recently: aged red fruits, cinnamon and five spice, and a nice savory meaty like thing. Some leaves and herbs - very perfumed and autumnal. Beautiful on the palate - again, very perfumed, tart red fruited, lots of spice, more of the savory meaty aspect than the nose. This has a lot of acid and shows it as tartness in the red fruits. This acid/tartness is really prominent on the finish, which at points borders on shrill. This isn't what I expected from this wine, and maybe a touch disappointing, but still beautiful. I should note that in retrospect I think that this bottle was taken right from the cellar (horizontal) and poured and that it probably needed to be vertical for some time before opening. It was cloudy, as noted, and each pour probably had a lot of fine sediment - I've found that this, for me, has a huge negative effect. Nose - 5.5/6, Palate - 5/6, Finish - 4.5/6, Je ne Sais Quoi - 1.5/2 = 16.5/20.
In the trio of ‘89-‘90-‘91, this was the best wine with the ripest fruit and most focused intensity. Incredible flavors of ripe dark fruits with black truffles and expresso all wrapped in a smoky package. Finishes so sleek and refined with marvelous flavors of char, minerals and dark spice. Chave at it’s finest!
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Gorgeous nose, and that continues on to the palate, showing lovely character, marvelous intensity but does not have the density of the 1990, served alongside.
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Senza dubbio la Syrah più elegante mai assaggiata. Vino di razza, intossica ancora di fiori e pepe, come neanche il pepe! Finezza estrema e gestione magistrale di tannino e freschezza. Un monumento
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This bottle had been a bit disturbed in transit so did not show as purely as the 88 and 89 in the flight. Interestingly it had the most read-across to the La Chapelle 91 in the flight of 88-89-91, with the softer slightly stewed raspberry, cherry and also strawberry notes, showing some florality, against a silky background of smoke and slightly sweet spice and soil. ****(?)
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DGs Birthday: Violets, raspberry, smoke and earth with gravel and blackcurrant. The fruit still shows some appealing red fruit sweetness, along with great length and elegance. Very nice style and flow - this has a good mix of everything!
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Intense clove and black raspberry. Rich acid streak across the palate. Woodsmoke, rocky minerality, soil notes. Not even middle-age yet, this showed very well tonight. 96+
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This was showing a fair bit of age and was rather lacking in fruit.I had read about a tasting where the 91 was said to represent the terroir and the 90 the sun, in other words 91 was not a hot year so the wine was to be elegant, yes it was elegant but lacked much else.
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Stunning wine. A perfume that only mature wines from a great vintage display. Still fruit, but the balance through integration of all components is fabulous. 1991 is perhaps a little under the radar, but it's such a fine vintage for both Northern Rhône as Burgundy. If you can find it: buy it. This wine still has bags of life, but is at its apogee for drinking.
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Minty, ripe, so many minerals. Lots of good acidity. High-toned and aristocratic. As Paul Gridley said "there is something spiritually satisfying about this wine." Young and still on the upswing. 96+ At Rarities, Nomad, NYC.
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Ripe black raspberries and red cherries, red currant. Deep organic notes. Sweet spice blend. Notes of coffee grounds, herbs, wood smoke and rocks. Bright acid spine lending consistent support to the many flavors on the palate. 97+
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Another beautiful showing. Off the charts umami fragrances of smoked meat, olives and mushrooms and a core of black fruit. Velvety on the palate. Complex and delicious.
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Rare Northern Rhone Birthday - 1991: Highly expressive nose including ceramics, clays, and acrylics with savory smoked meats. Warm red clay and roast beef on the palate. An excellent showing that some described as ‘perfection’ despite these spares notes… was more spellbound by the ’91 Cuvee Cathelin closing the night.
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Darn good wine and this bottle was still on the upswing. No decant, consumed over one hour; proper treatment would have likely merited a higher score. Compares favorably to the '90 with perhaps a higher degree of delicacy and class. 94+
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This was an Eureka moment. Had complex dusty, leathery, earthy, slightly funky blackberry,cherries, chalky minerals, menthol, white and black pepper aromas. Wonderful old-school austere, spartan yet huge earthy black fruity palate with fanatastic spherical middle. Ends long, dry, stylish and balanced. Svelt and poised like a ballet dancer
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A long lunch at Helen's place (Martinborough, NZ): A real change of speed here! Deep relatively primary red colour. A very clean and pure nose of dark cherries and other red and dark berries, with espresso, cinnamon, Asian spice and savoury notes. On palate, a very rich and powerful wine. It was obviously Syrah, but elegantly handled and beautifully Burgundian, which takes you straight to JL Chave. The wine seemed relatively young, but with some development, it seemed to be right in its optimal drinking window. Beautifully proportioned and balanced. Vibrant but savoury. The palate was multi-layered and very detailed. Really superb, a class act! Thanks Rauno.
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Chave Dinner (Le Perigord): Sweet cinnamon and cardomam spices with earthy black fruit. Rich and sensual but not big, beautifully elegant and silky, but with an odd citrusy twang on the back end. With air the nose shows a huge blast of mint toothpaste that I wasn't especially fond of. Did not improve in the glass with air. At first I preferred this to the 90 but with air I think I preferred the 90.
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WineBerserkers Rhone Tasting; 2/26/2014-2/27/2014 (The Palace, Mission, SF): "Oh wow" nose, floral, spicy, slight cinnamon, red fruit, very elegant; full bodied, elegant red fruit, fresh acidity throughout, wonderful combination of flavors, very slight green to give it great complexity; medium-long finish. This was just a stunning wine that had everything going for it, and it was a pleasure to drink throughout the night. Ready to drink now. 96-97.
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Could use some careful decanting to be honest as it took it like 30 mins to show its best side. But post that is a magnificent wine. Wortht say that it came after the magnificent 1989 Rousseau Charmes-Chambertin, Papies 98, however it proved a worthy follow up act. Very Burgundian in a way. Very elegant and balanced. The nose we expected to be more secondary, but it was more fruit driven, light spice. On the palate a perfectly balanced beauty, good structure, firm yet silky tannin. Could use a touch more length and maybe a touch more strength but this is a 97 for us. Magical
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Tasted blind. Color: medium/light ruby -> light ruby rim with slight bricking. Bouquet showed a green mint I wasn't fond of but developed other more favourable elements: smoke, bacon, tobacco, leather, barnyard. Palate was much lighter than expected; texture and depth more akin to a large-scaled mature Burgundy than Hermitage! Still aspects of green/sappy mintiness I feel don't belong but followed by licorice, olive tapenade, smoky cherries. All in all, a very good, mature (drink now or soon) wine that just misses out due to those strange green/minty elements. Second place in a flight of three including '88 Guigal Cote Rotie and '90 Clape Cornas.
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Light body, brickish to garnet in the decanter. Lush, silky on the palate. Earthy nose, giving way to berry fruit. On the palate, long finish of raspberry, spice. Wine of the night compared with 08 la crau and 00 beaucastel (not even a contest).
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superb refined structure. intense pure red fruits and gentle spice, no oak influence evident. excellent depth of sweet red fruits, long and pure, subtle spice, elegant and refined. Gorgeous.
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The Northern Rhone Dinner (Chave, Jaboulet, Chapoutier, Rostaing, Tardieu Laurent) (Patrick's House): Decanted quickly for sediment, and served immediately, followed for about two to three hours. Deep ruby colour in the glass. To me, this jumps out of the glass, with a powerful nose of bright red fruits, herbs, fresh cut grass, mint, leather, strawberries, undergrowth, smoke, green tobacco, spice and raw meat. On the palate, gorgeous red fruits, mint, herbs, spice and mushroom. Fully integrated tannin, but excellent acidic backbone that carries through on the lengthy finish. I love the intensity of the fruit here. This is beautifully balanced, but powerful, yet still maintaining and certain elegance. Leaps and bounds ahead of the last bottle. This was served alongside the 1990 Chapoutier La Sizeranne, and prompted quite a bit of discussion, as people were heavily favouring one over the other. I found the Chave to be in another league, with great power and precision, whereas the Chapoutier was less interesting and a bit muddled on the nose. The Chapoutier showed it's best in the mouth with a bit of a richer mouthfeel.
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DoktaP, JoeG and Basecadet Visit KW (Dave's House): Decanted quickly for sediment and then served immediately. There was a bit of past seepage noted when removing the capsule, which had me concerned, although the cork still had a decent seal and came out in one piece. This was not at all like I expected. Really fresh on the nose, with really bright red fruits, savoury green herbs, fresh cut grass, crushed rocks, florals, briny olive, mint and fresh sea air. On the palate, very light weight, and elegant, showing red fruits, pepper, fresh picked herbs, minerality, olive and mint. Strong, refreshing acidity and fully integrated tannin. This paired really well with Patrick's wonderful lamb shank. Oddly enough, this reminded me more of a beautiful pinot than what I expected to be a powerful hermitage.
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vert with 83/85/86 this certainly showed as younger, more secondary than tertiary, was very concentrated, tarry but not beefy - olive tapenade, then had a period of strong menthol, lasted in the glass, great solid core of fruit, has much time and if I owned it would wait for a few more nuances. However, I can see enjoying it now as well, lovely wine
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Intense nose of black olive tapenade for quite awhile. Then black cherries/plums, smokey hint of bacon, an evolving and beguiling nose. The palate was loaded with fruit, tannins gave it texture, plenty of acidity carried the mid-palate through to a long licorice finish. Wow, was it good.
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What a nice surprise! I've always liked this wine, but this bottle rocked it! Licorice, blackberry, cherry, iron, earth, citrus peel, pepper, minerality and earthy scents paired perfectly with the powerful, concentrated, full bodied personality of the wine. Refined, elegant and intense, this sublime Hermitage wine ends with a long, fresh, spicy, black cherry filled finish. Still young, this will age and improve for decades.
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Dinner with Tim Kirk: Smoke, sour cherry, raspberry and earth aromas. Palate has very appealing texture - very savory but has a core of red fruit. Excellent length and a very interesting wine.
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Chave-a-thon (Restaurant Michael (Winnetka, IL)): Smoky earthy animal driven with beautiful spice aroma. Great wine, tremendously silky and balanced, great tension here between spicy fruits and acids. Seamless with fine depth, toasty quality, and sleek black flavors, pure. This is the real deal and in the perfect drinking window. 96
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Near perfection. Blazing laser clear deep red clarity. Meaty smoke, ripe tangy currants and juicy cherry extract. On and on aftertastes. Perfect drinking now and for the next 10+ years. Wow! Wow! My only bottle bought at auction. Will eagerly purchase again if a reliable source is found.
Day 2 note on remaining 1/4 bottle: As brilliant as Day 1. Just mouth caressing perfection of the finest kind the N. Rhone has to offer. Not the slightest degradation in quality after spending a night in the fridge. Exceptional stuff that met all expectations from this producer and material to work with. Bravo!
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Just reaching its drinking window after being rather closed for its first fifteen years or so, the '91 Chave now shows lovely bing cherry fruit accented by hits of tobacco, game, olives and black pepper. Just a superb bottle of Hermitage that has more the weight of an Echézeaux than a meaty, modern Hermitage.
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Poured blind... who the hell pours '91 Chave blind? Anyway, happy to say I did not embarrass myself and knew right from the first sip that this was superb stuff and not one of those oddball blind wines. A perfect-condition bottle purchased on release, too. Intensely savory, the tannin almost totally resolved, puts it right in the zone.
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Decanted for an hour prior to drinking. This is pretty much the pinnacle of syrah. Sous bois, spice box, tobacco and dried fruit on the nose. The palate is incredibly silky, with lots of cigar box and sous bois on the palate. The finish continues with lots of spice, dried cherries and dried flowers. The texture is amazing, with all components in perfect balance, which I find very rarely in Syrah. While I don't think there's much to gain with any more time in bottle, this is stunning right now.
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(At The Sampler). Dry dried-leaves, dried-fruit on the nose; pretty relaxed and laid-back through the palate but with good coating persistence. Fine balance and elegance.
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Bright red colour. Smoked meats, sour cherries and tea leaves hit the nose. Focused red fruits with great length. Can never go wrong with a Chave Hermitage.
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Medium red center with bricking. Head spinning, complex nose with leather, dead leaf, camphor, and blackberry-an essence of French Syrah. Medium weight, harmonious with terrific acidity, and barely hinting at some sweetness of fruit underneath. Magnificently stony, long finish. At a superb point for drinking. A sleeper.
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Explosive bouquet of olives like you just dove headfirst into the olive bar and swam right through them. Such a classic scent. Vibrantly fruited and also kind of gritty in its grip. A real sense of traction on the palate.
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Aromatically this was exploding the moment the bottle was popped. Roasted meat, floral notes, hints of cherry, just gorgeous. The palate was lithe, supple, stunningly silky, more reminiscent of Burgundy than Hermitage but with more than enough weight and power. One of the better bottles of Chave I have had other than the mind-blowing 1990.
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A bottle that sat on a supermarket shelf for a long time before I acquired it had me concerned about storage. The wine's color was typical middle-aged Chave, showing a deep brick-red throughout. The nose was of coffee, roasted meat, pepper spice, and black olives with some red fruit underneath. On the palate, this was spot-on showing what aged Chave is all about - meaty, olive-infused, spicy. My only qualm with the wine was that the mid-palate was not as full as in stronger vintages and the finish showed some acids that were out of balance. I suspect further development (or at least a good long time in this plateau) for this wine.
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The youngest 1991 Chave I've had yet. Still very dark with brooding spice and dark fruit. Good ripe structure and a long-lasting finish. The nose can only be described as "Chave." A Great wine and a Great bottle.
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My first Chave and bought and consumed to see what "mature" Chave tastes like. It tastes very nice and my wife thought not at all "old" tasting like the 82 and 78 and Bdx we had wi/ it. Olive on the nose and then lovely rich but not exuberant fruit. I would gladly drink this again.
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Dinner at Eleven Madison Park; 11/1/2006-11/2/2006: My last bottle and the best one yet. Fantastic nose of roasted fruit and earthy spice -- unmistakably Hermitage and Chave. Lots of minerality with a rich mid-palate that just explodes in the mouth. Medium-bodied but not lacking for any intensity. The spices continue on thesweet finish with very fine tannins and just enough acidity to provide some cut. At or very close to peak right now. Terrific, classic and compelling wine.
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North Rhône Offline (Rotisserie Jules, South Kensington): A mature light garnet. A bretty, animalistic nose: really quite charming and almost a pinot noir Burgundyness. Very interesting on the palate: light and very fragrant. While there were some slight high-tones on the nose, there are none on the palate. Light and very mature and utterly charming, with some soft-grained tannins on the finish.
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2005 Pre-SuperBOWL offline (Rococo Restaurant, Glasgow): Fabulous nose - really elegant with vieille prune scents to the fore, ahead of flowery, fragrant violets. Soft and velvety textured on the palate. Good acidity provides a nice freshness on the finish, but overall it doesn't quite live up to its nose. Very Good Indeed.
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Drinking well; certainly not over the hill yet. Red fruits, ripe cherries and soft, fragrance spice notes on the nose. Ripe and soft palate with no harsh tannins but enough body to give good length. Not a powerhouse wine but elegant and fragrant.
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The nose offered minerals, herbs, coffee, spicy fruit, fresh pepper and earthy scents reip black & red fruits. The palate enjoyed lush, deep, opulent fruit filled flavors ending in waves of rich, spicy, ripe black rapsberry.
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6/9/2023 - Tudz Drkl Likes this wine:
Beautiful wine (1st bottle corked) with a nose of green herbs and crisp ripe orchard fruits. The palate was unlike the usual Rhône whites we’ve had in that the core acidity provided clean forward structure for the fruit. The alcohol was restrained (13%) and this wine maintained a beautiful texture throughout. Simply astounding!
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2/16/2023 - BradE wrote:
Once again, an outstanding vintage for Chave that is sexy and soulful.
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11/12/2022 - Wine Canuck wrote: 99 Points
An epic dinner of classic wines: This pours lightly cloudy light garnet with light bricking and light fleck of orange in the glass. The nose is just insane from first pour. Aromas absolutely blast olive brine, preserved meyer lemon peel, grilled meat, fresh plum, dried blueberry, toasted spices, granite, rose petal, sweaty animal fur, game, light roast coffee, and smoky incense. The palate is just as good as the nose with a bright red fruit and citrus tinged entry. Tannin is low and acid is medium plus. The finish is insanely long replaying much if the nose with a core of spectacular red and citrus fruit and massively complex secondary and tertiary notes. What an absolutely spectacular showing here. This from an immaculate bottle from a restaurant. Tremendous value at $595 CAD and sadly their last. This is a monumental wine and would please any lover of very traditional Rhones. In my mind it almost came across like a hypothetical blend of Rayas and a Northern Rhone. Wow.
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9/18/2022 - drwine2001 wrote:
Sunday Lunch with Raveneau Chablis and Chave Hermitage (Piccino Restaurant, San Francisco): Browning throughout. Blueberry, menthol, wintergreen, and more than a bit of VA. Medium to lighter weight. Faded blue fruit. Dry, earthy finish with excessive acidity. This vintage has gotten a lot of props recently and was wonderful when I last had it in 2008 (!), but today it was simply over the hill.
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6/23/2022 - acyso wrote: 100 Points
Chave: "In the name of science" (Chicago, IL): This was the vintage I was the most excited to taste tonight, and boy did this bottle just hit it out of the park. Incredibly complex and layered, with classic syrah smoked meat notes supplementing an array of red and black fruit on the nose. The palate is similarly detailed and complex, with intense notes of all the above very well delineated. Fruit that isn't as rounded and sweet as the 1990, but with lovely acidity to balance. A lengthy but shapely finish. I love that this has both the intensity and concentration, but a vein of acidity coursing through it, giving an electric, dynamic excitement to the wine. Legend.
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5/24/2021 - bill00 wrote: 96 Points
Beautiful and expressive aromatics. Smoke, spice, dried red fruit and a bit of damp soil. Layered and complex. Classic.
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1/6/2021 - tinybubbles Likes this wine: 97 Points
Intense and focused bottle. These really require more bottle age.
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7/10/2020 - robferguson1 wrote: 92 Points
Probably a few years past it’s best but very pleasant , had vague elements of green , good length, lightish but nice but does not deserve the price or high ratings ppl
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1/7/2020 - BradE wrote:
The 91 really appealed to me, and was utterly soulful.
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12/13/2019 - winenut30 wrote:
Drank a bottle with a soaked cork. Still acceptable but not outstanding.
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4/2/2019 - robferguson1 wrote: 92 Points
Brownish at edge and lots of sediment that I strained out
Nice nose , light tasty good but not great as some say
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4/1/2019 - tinybubbles Likes this wine: 96 Points
Wonderful intensity and energy. Fullness of sharp spice in this bottle. 96-97
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3/9/2019 - BradE wrote:
Soulful, sexy, Chave.
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3/8/2019 - Nanda wrote:
La Paulée - Friday Night Dinner (A Fiori): Another generous late night after party share. Crazy meat, olive and pepper to the black fruit. Still youthful. 97+
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11/7/2018 - KenK Likes this wine: 96 Points
At lunch in Hermitage with Jean-Louis & Erin Chave directly pulled by JL from their cellar. A truly beautiful wine highlighting the reason to age these wines. Fragrant complex aromatics of mature sour black cherries, fall leaves, and wet black gravel. Delicate in texture yet very good intensity of flavors. Pretty dried red fruits & black earthy notes. Loads of dry extract and black granite stone. Amazingly integrated and offering up so much pleasure!
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6/27/2018 - The Vines That Bind wrote: 96 Points
Beautiful bouquet that has drying rose petals, pastels, smoked meat, and great earth rusticity. A highly elegant example. Very soft. Burgundian. Spice, tobacco, florals. The palate is surprisingly ripe and round and is already has a soft mouthfeel, although there is still big red fruited power. Perfect integration and structure right now. Nose is really picking up steam and is highly expressive and showy. Beautiful. Have spent two hours with this now and it has really grown. Powerful. Long mineral finish. Terrific.
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6/3/2018 - Seth Rosenberg Likes this wine: 93 Points
PnPed. Pale red and somewhat cloudy. This is not what I expected. Very very Burgundian - in fact very similar on the nose to the 83 Amiot Chambolle Charmes that I liked so much recently: aged red fruits, cinnamon and five spice, and a nice savory meaty like thing. Some leaves and herbs - very perfumed and autumnal. Beautiful on the palate - again, very perfumed, tart red fruited, lots of spice, more of the savory meaty aspect than the nose. This has a lot of acid and shows it as tartness in the red fruits. This acid/tartness is really prominent on the finish, which at points borders on shrill. This isn't what I expected from this wine, and maybe a touch disappointing, but still beautiful. I should note that in retrospect I think that this bottle was taken right from the cellar (horizontal) and poured and that it probably needed to be vertical for some time before opening. It was cloudy, as noted, and each pour probably had a lot of fine sediment - I've found that this, for me, has a huge negative effect. Nose - 5.5/6, Palate - 5/6, Finish - 4.5/6, Je ne Sais Quoi - 1.5/2 = 16.5/20.
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4/19/2018 - tinybubbles Likes this wine: 96 Points
Everything here. Great bottle. Still room for more development. 96-97+
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1/14/2018 - MauriceE wrote:
Incredible wine, glorious. Fine berries, fruit. Powerful, very complex and long. One of the best Hermitages ever.
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12/17/2017 - dream Likes this wine: 96 Points
In the trio of ‘89-‘90-‘91, this was the best wine with the ripest fruit and most focused intensity. Incredible flavors of ripe dark fruits with black truffles and expresso all wrapped in a smoky package. Finishes so sleek and refined with marvelous flavors of char, minerals and dark spice. Chave at it’s finest!
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12/13/2017 - lepetitchateau wrote: 94 Points
Gorgeous nose, and that continues on to the palate, showing lovely character, marvelous intensity but does not have the density of the 1990, served alongside.
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7/8/2017 - tinybubbles Likes this wine: 95 Points
Great initial spice and earth nose, this bottle started to close in on itself after an hour. Somewhat more advanced than other recent bottles. 95-
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6/21/2017 - galenico Likes this wine: 97 Points
Senza dubbio la Syrah più elegante mai assaggiata. Vino di razza, intossica ancora di fiori e pepe, come neanche il pepe! Finezza estrema e gestione magistrale di tannino e freschezza. Un monumento
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6/17/2017 - Burgundy Al wrote: 96 Points
Christie's Wine Dinner: A Journey Through the Vinkällare of Staffan Hansson (RPM Steak - Chicago IL): Popped and poured. Stunning nose- red and black cherry, candied orange peel, black pepper, licorice, black truffle, and baco came through at various times. Wonderful flavors, albeit slightly less nuanced or complex. Superbly elegant.
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5/20/2017 - MAOC wrote:
This bottle had been a bit disturbed in transit so did not show as purely as the 88 and 89 in the flight. Interestingly it had the most read-across to the La Chapelle 91 in the flight of 88-89-91, with the softer slightly stewed raspberry, cherry and also strawberry notes, showing some florality, against a silky background of smoke and slightly sweet spice and soil. ****(?)
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2/25/2017 - CamWheeler wrote: 93 Points
DGs Birthday: Violets, raspberry, smoke and earth with gravel and blackcurrant. The fruit still shows some appealing red fruit sweetness, along with great length and elegance. Very nice style and flow - this has a good mix of everything!
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1/23/2017 - tinybubbles Likes this wine: 96 Points
Intense clove and black raspberry. Rich acid streak across the palate. Woodsmoke, rocky minerality, soil notes. Not even middle-age yet, this showed very well tonight. 96+
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1/19/2017 - tinybubbles Likes this wine: 95 Points
Required 45 minutes to fully open. A bottle defined slightly more by red fruit and slightly less by spice and soil tones.
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1/10/2017 - tinybubbles Likes this wine: 96 Points
Started slow but opened up after 30 minutes. This wine still a decade away from peak. Emerging elegance. 96-97+
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1/2/2017 - robferguson1 wrote: 91 Points
This was showing a fair bit of age and was rather lacking in fruit.I had read about a tasting where the 91 was said to represent the terroir and the 90 the sun, in other words 91 was not a hot year so the wine was to be elegant, yes it was elegant but lacked much else.
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12/25/2016 - MauriceE wrote:
Stunning wine. A perfume that only mature wines from a great vintage display. Still fruit, but the balance through integration of all components is fabulous. 1991 is perhaps a little under the radar, but it's such a fine vintage for both Northern Rhône as Burgundy. If you can find it: buy it. This wine still has bags of life, but is at its apogee for drinking.
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12/12/2016 - dream Likes this wine: 96 Points
Minty, ripe, so many minerals. Lots of good acidity. High-toned and aristocratic. As Paul Gridley said "there is something spiritually satisfying about this wine." Young and still on the upswing. 96+ At Rarities, Nomad, NYC.
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12/6/2016 - tinybubbles Likes this wine: 97 Points
Ripe black raspberries and red cherries, red currant. Deep organic notes. Sweet spice blend. Notes of coffee grounds, herbs, wood smoke and rocks. Bright acid spine lending consistent support to the many flavors on the palate. 97+
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9/24/2016 - MartyL wrote: 95 Points
Another beautiful showing. Off the charts umami fragrances of smoked meat, olives and mushrooms and a core of black fruit. Velvety on the palate. Complex and delicious.
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9/14/2016 - The Vines That Bind wrote: 95 Points
Rare Northern Rhone Birthday - 1991: Highly expressive nose including ceramics, clays, and acrylics with savory smoked meats. Warm red clay and roast beef on the palate. An excellent showing that some described as ‘perfection’ despite these spares notes… was more spellbound by the ’91 Cuvee Cathelin closing the night.
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6/8/2016 - tinybubbles Likes this wine: 97 Points
Still young. Smokey with an abundance of dark earth. For all of its intensity a very precise wine
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1/21/2016 - AtoZ wrote:
Drinks younger then the 1989. Still some tannins. Better with food than the 89. Not worth the current price INMHO.
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12/11/2015 - tinybubbles Likes this wine: 94 Points
Darn good wine and this bottle was still on the upswing. No decant, consumed over one hour; proper treatment would have likely merited a higher score. Compares favorably to the '90 with perhaps a higher degree of delicacy and class. 94+
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8/25/2015 - macaujames Likes this wine: 94 Points
This was an Eureka moment. Had complex dusty, leathery, earthy, slightly funky blackberry,cherries, chalky minerals, menthol, white and black pepper aromas. Wonderful old-school austere, spartan yet huge earthy black fruity palate with fanatastic spherical middle. Ends long, dry, stylish and balanced. Svelt and poised like a ballet dancer
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12/6/2014 - HowardNZ Likes this wine: 95 Points
A long lunch at Helen's place (Martinborough, NZ): A real change of speed here! Deep relatively primary red colour. A very clean and pure nose of dark cherries and other red and dark berries, with espresso, cinnamon, Asian spice and savoury notes. On palate, a very rich and powerful wine. It was obviously Syrah, but elegantly handled and beautifully Burgundian, which takes you straight to JL Chave. The wine seemed relatively young, but with some development, it seemed to be right in its optimal drinking window. Beautifully proportioned and balanced. Vibrant but savoury. The palate was multi-layered and very detailed. Really superb, a class act! Thanks Rauno.
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11/20/2014 - coremill wrote: 92 Points
Chave Dinner (Le Perigord): Sweet cinnamon and cardomam spices with earthy black fruit. Rich and sensual but not big, beautifully elegant and silky, but with an odd citrusy twang on the back end. With air the nose shows a huge blast of mint toothpaste that I wasn't especially fond of. Did not improve in the glass with air. At first I preferred this to the 90 but with air I think I preferred the 90.
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2/27/2014 - aagrawal wrote: 97 Points
WineBerserkers Rhone Tasting; 2/26/2014-2/27/2014 (The Palace, Mission, SF): "Oh wow" nose, floral, spicy, slight cinnamon, red fruit, very elegant; full bodied, elegant red fruit, fresh acidity throughout, wonderful combination of flavors, very slight green to give it great complexity; medium-long finish. This was just a stunning wine that had everything going for it, and it was a pleasure to drink throughout the night. Ready to drink now. 96-97.
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11/16/2013 - Papies wrote: 97 Points
Could use some careful decanting to be honest as it took it like 30 mins to show its best side. But post that is a magnificent wine. Wortht say that it came after the magnificent 1989 Rousseau Charmes-Chambertin, Papies 98, however it proved a worthy follow up act. Very Burgundian in a way. Very elegant and balanced. The nose we expected to be more secondary, but it was more fruit driven, light spice. On the palate a perfectly balanced beauty, good structure, firm yet silky tannin. Could use a touch more length and maybe a touch more strength but this is a 97 for us. Magical
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11/11/2013 - MartyL wrote: 98 Points
Mature, classic, magnificent.
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3/30/2013 - chcook Likes this wine:
Drank this with Kevin for Easter dinner. amazing wine in a perfect spot right now.
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12/10/2012 - BVal wrote: 91 Points
Tasted blind. Color: medium/light ruby -> light ruby rim with slight bricking. Bouquet showed a green mint I wasn't fond of but developed other more favourable elements: smoke, bacon, tobacco, leather, barnyard. Palate was much lighter than expected; texture and depth more akin to a large-scaled mature Burgundy than Hermitage! Still aspects of green/sappy mintiness I feel don't belong but followed by licorice, olive tapenade, smoky cherries. All in all, a very good, mature (drink now or soon) wine that just misses out due to those strange green/minty elements. Second place in a flight of three including '88 Guigal Cote Rotie and '90 Clape Cornas.
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10/14/2012 - burr wrote: 95 Points
Light body, brickish to garnet in the decanter. Lush, silky on the palate. Earthy nose, giving way to berry fruit. On the palate, long finish of raspberry, spice. Wine of the night compared with 08 la crau and 00 beaucastel (not even a contest).
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8/11/2012 - Vini Ciclismo Likes this wine: 96 Points
superb refined structure. intense pure red fruits and gentle spice, no oak influence evident. excellent depth of sweet red fruits, long and pure, subtle spice, elegant and refined. Gorgeous.
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3/24/2012 - alittle wrote: 96 Points
The Northern Rhone Dinner (Chave, Jaboulet, Chapoutier, Rostaing, Tardieu Laurent) (Patrick's House): Decanted quickly for sediment, and served immediately, followed for about two to three hours. Deep ruby colour in the glass. To me, this jumps out of the glass, with a powerful nose of bright red fruits, herbs, fresh cut grass, mint, leather, strawberries, undergrowth, smoke, green tobacco, spice and raw meat. On the palate, gorgeous red fruits, mint, herbs, spice and mushroom. Fully integrated tannin, but excellent acidic backbone that carries through on the lengthy finish. I love the intensity of the fruit here. This is beautifully balanced, but powerful, yet still maintaining and certain elegance. Leaps and bounds ahead of the last bottle. This was served alongside the 1990 Chapoutier La Sizeranne, and prompted quite a bit of discussion, as people were heavily favouring one over the other. I found the Chave to be in another league, with great power and precision, whereas the Chapoutier was less interesting and a bit muddled on the nose. The Chapoutier showed it's best in the mouth with a bit of a richer mouthfeel.
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3/9/2012 - alittle wrote: 93 Points
DoktaP, JoeG and Basecadet Visit KW (Dave's House): Decanted quickly for sediment and then served immediately. There was a bit of past seepage noted when removing the capsule, which had me concerned, although the cork still had a decent seal and came out in one piece. This was not at all like I expected. Really fresh on the nose, with really bright red fruits, savoury green herbs, fresh cut grass, crushed rocks, florals, briny olive, mint and fresh sea air. On the palate, very light weight, and elegant, showing red fruits, pepper, fresh picked herbs, minerality, olive and mint. Strong, refreshing acidity and fully integrated tannin. This paired really well with Patrick's wonderful lamb shank. Oddly enough, this reminded me more of a beautiful pinot than what I expected to be a powerful hermitage.
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2/17/2012 - beachbum wrote: 93 Points
vert with 83/85/86
this certainly showed as younger, more secondary than tertiary, was very concentrated, tarry but not beefy - olive tapenade, then had a period of strong menthol, lasted in the glass, great solid core of fruit, has much time and if I owned it would wait for a few more nuances. However, I can see enjoying it now as well, lovely wine
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2/17/2012 - Machiavelli wrote:
Intense nose of black olive tapenade for quite awhile. Then black cherries/plums, smokey hint of bacon, an evolving and beguiling nose. The palate was loaded with fruit, tannins gave it texture, plenty of acidity carried the mid-palate through to a long licorice finish. Wow, was it good.
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12/8/2011 - lepetitchateau wrote: 95 Points
Chocolate nose, thick and stinky... strangely delicious
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10/6/2011 - Jeff Leve wrote: 95 Points
What a nice surprise! I've always liked this wine, but this bottle rocked it! Licorice, blackberry, cherry, iron, earth, citrus peel, pepper, minerality and earthy scents paired perfectly with the powerful, concentrated, full bodied personality of the wine. Refined, elegant and intense, this sublime Hermitage wine ends with a long, fresh, spicy, black cherry filled finish. Still young, this will age and improve for decades.
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8/9/2011 - CamWheeler wrote: 92 Points
Dinner with Tim Kirk: Smoke, sour cherry, raspberry and earth aromas. Palate has very appealing texture - very savory but has a core of red fruit. Excellent length and a very interesting wine.
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10/26/2010 - KenK wrote: 96 Points
Chave-a-thon (Restaurant Michael (Winnetka, IL)): Smoky earthy animal driven with beautiful spice aroma.
Great wine, tremendously silky and balanced, great tension here between spicy fruits and acids. Seamless with fine depth, toasty quality, and sleek black flavors, pure. This is the real deal and in the perfect drinking window. 96
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10/5/2010 - pdemaio wrote: 93 Points
pretty smooth and well integrated... excellent.
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9/14/2010 - Rupert wrote: 93 Points
Hermitage dinner - Jaboulet La Chapelle and JL Chave (The Ledbury, London): Light, bright, fantastically lively, and breathtaking long
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6/16/2010 - greg spencer wrote: 95 Points
Near perfection. Blazing laser clear deep red clarity. Meaty smoke, ripe tangy currants and juicy cherry extract. On and on aftertastes. Perfect drinking now and for the next 10+ years. Wow! Wow! My only bottle bought at auction. Will eagerly purchase again if a reliable source is found.
Day 2 note on remaining 1/4 bottle: As brilliant as Day 1. Just mouth caressing perfection of the finest kind the N. Rhone has to offer. Not the slightest degradation in quality after spending a night in the fridge. Exceptional stuff that met all expectations from this producer and material to work with. Bravo!
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4/5/2010 - Eric wrote:
Liquid smoke. Gorgeous acidity. Very intense. Much more intense than I recall. Really one heck of a Hermitage.
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1/15/2010 - SimonG wrote:
Eric Levine at The Ledbury: Sweet-fruited Chave nose. Smooth and rounded. Quick impression but lovely. ****
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10/15/2009 - j45 wrote: 95 Points
Just reaching its drinking window after being rather closed for its first fifteen years or so, the '91 Chave now shows lovely bing cherry fruit accented by hits of tobacco, game, olives and black pepper. Just a superb bottle of Hermitage that has more the weight of an Echézeaux than a meaty, modern Hermitage.
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9/17/2009 - Keith Levenberg wrote: 95 Points
Poured blind... who the hell pours '91 Chave blind? Anyway, happy to say I did not embarrass myself and knew right from the first sip that this was superb stuff and not one of those oddball blind wines. A perfect-condition bottle purchased on release, too. Intensely savory, the tannin almost totally resolved, puts it right in the zone.
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6/14/2009 - rhyspinot wrote: 95 Points
Decanted for an hour prior to drinking. This is pretty much the pinnacle of syrah. Sous bois, spice box, tobacco and dried fruit on the nose. The palate is incredibly silky, with lots of cigar box and sous bois on the palate. The finish continues with lots of spice, dried cherries and dried flowers. The texture is amazing, with all components in perfect balance, which I find very rarely in Syrah. While I don't think there's much to gain with any more time in bottle, this is stunning right now.
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3/28/2009 - rob1869 wrote: 92 Points
(At The Sampler). Dry dried-leaves, dried-fruit on the nose; pretty relaxed and laid-back through the palate but with good coating persistence. Fine balance and elegance.
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2/20/2009 - henrychinaski wrote: 95 Points
Stunning. A perfect amount of funk. Drinking extremely well.
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12/13/2008 - winecowboy wrote: 93 Points
Bright red colour. Smoked meats, sour cherries and tea leaves hit the nose. Focused red fruits with great length. Can never go wrong with a Chave Hermitage.
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11/4/2008 - drwine2001 wrote:
Medium red center with bricking. Head spinning, complex nose with leather, dead leaf, camphor, and blackberry-an essence of French Syrah. Medium weight, harmonious with terrific acidity, and barely hinting at some sweetness of fruit underneath. Magnificently stony, long finish. At a superb point for drinking. A sleeper.
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1/17/2008 - Keith Levenberg wrote: 93 Points
Explosive bouquet of olives like you just dove headfirst into the olive bar and swam right through them. Such a classic scent. Vibrantly fruited and also kind of gritty in its grip. A real sense of traction on the palate.
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10/28/2007 - Eric wrote: 95 Points
A fantastic bottle of Chave!
Aromatically this was exploding the moment the bottle was popped. Roasted meat, floral notes, hints of cherry, just gorgeous. The palate was lithe, supple, stunningly silky, more reminiscent of Burgundy than Hermitage but with more than enough weight and power. One of the better bottles of Chave I have had other than the mind-blowing 1990.
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9/2/2007 - fredb wrote:
A bottle that sat on a supermarket shelf for a long time before I acquired it had me concerned about storage. The wine's color was typical middle-aged Chave, showing a deep brick-red throughout. The nose was of coffee, roasted meat, pepper spice, and black olives with some red fruit underneath. On the palate, this was spot-on showing what aged Chave is all about - meaty, olive-infused, spicy. My only qualm with the wine was that the mid-palate was not as full as in stronger vintages and the finish showed some acids that were out of balance. I suspect further development (or at least a good long time in this plateau) for this wine.
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3/29/2007 - cellarid wrote: 94 Points
The youngest 1991 Chave I've had yet. Still very dark with brooding spice and dark fruit. Good ripe structure and a long-lasting finish. The nose can only be described as "Chave." A Great wine and a Great bottle.
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1/8/2007 - Mr T wrote: 93 Points
My first Chave and bought and consumed to see what "mature" Chave tastes like. It tastes very nice and my wife thought not at all "old" tasting like the 82 and 78 and Bdx we had wi/ it. Olive on the nose and then lovely rich but not exuberant fruit. I would gladly drink this again.
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11/2/2006 - cellarid wrote: 93 Points
Dinner at Eleven Madison Park; 11/1/2006-11/2/2006: My last bottle and the best one yet. Fantastic nose of roasted fruit and earthy spice -- unmistakably Hermitage and Chave. Lots of minerality with a rich mid-palate that just explodes in the mouth. Medium-bodied but not lacking for any intensity. The spices continue on thesweet finish with very fine tannins and just enough acidity to provide some cut. At or very close to peak right now. Terrific, classic and compelling wine.
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1/9/2006 - Russell Faulkner wrote: 90 Points
As mature looking as the 1985, lots of floating sediment, light nose, some burgundian (maybe just brett) notes. Nice wine.
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1/7/2006 - andrewstevenson.com wrote: 91 Points
North Rhône Offline (Rotisserie Jules, South Kensington): A mature light garnet. A bretty, animalistic nose: really quite charming and almost a pinot noir Burgundyness. Very interesting on the palate: light and very fragrant. While there were some slight high-tones on the nose, there are none on the palate. Light and very mature and utterly charming, with some soft-grained tannins on the finish.
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12/11/2005 - cellarid wrote:
Silky smooth with an unreal nose. The finish is light, but elegant.
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10/28/2005 - andrewstevenson.com wrote: 89 Points
2005 Pre-SuperBOWL offline (Rococo Restaurant, Glasgow): Fabulous nose - really elegant with vieille prune scents to the fore, ahead of flowery, fragrant violets. Soft and velvety textured on the palate. Good acidity provides a nice freshness on the finish, but overall it doesn't quite live up to its nose. Very Good Indeed.
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8/2/2005 - IanL wrote: 90 Points
Drinking well; certainly not over the hill yet. Red fruits, ripe cherries and soft, fragrance spice notes on the nose. Ripe and soft palate with no harsh tannins but enough body to give good length. Not a powerhouse wine but elegant and fragrant.
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2/12/2005 - Eric wrote:
Rhônes and dinner with Robert Parker (Baltimore, MD): This was my 2nd favorite of the flight.
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8/1/2004 - Jeff Leve wrote: 93 Points
The nose offered minerals, herbs, coffee, spicy fruit, fresh pepper and earthy scents reip black & red fruits. The palate enjoyed lush, deep, opulent fruit filled flavors ending in waves of rich, spicy, ripe black rapsberry.
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