Drinking very nicely with lots of soft fruit and texture. I was surprised how much I like this especially having seen some less favorable reviews. Great value at this price point.
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This particular bottle was very different from my previous bottles, which I have enjoyed. This one was off. It was not flawed but was definitely not good.
dark berries, dense and rich, savoury notes, some bacon, spices and herbals, with a concentrated fruity core, m+ body, not complex but quite completed structure. some chocolate in m+ finish.
Ap 5/5, Ar 12/15, Palate 17/20, Overall 4+3/10 Total 91+/100
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deep ruby, moderate tertiary smells in nose, leather, bacon and mushroom. fresh berries dominating palate, juicy and a little sweet, m+ body, fine grained tannins, solid acidity, some mild pepper, lingering long with some mocha and cedar notes.
A seductive Northern Rhone with good freshness and complexity.
WS 91, WA 93-96, JD 92-94, JS 92, VN 92, RC 19.0
Ap 5/5, Ar 12/15, Palate 17/20, Overall 4+4/10 Total 92+/100
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Ripe and opulent. Juicy, savory, and wholly delicious. Fatter than I prefer, but the wine does not lack for substance. Not an extended ager, but several years in the cellar will serve it well. It might improve, marginally. Paired with beef pot roast.
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In an open, ripe, and opulent style, while maintaining appealing old school balance. A whole lot of substance, expansive, and gritty. Delightful notes of smokehouse and cured meats. One feels the 15 abv, but not particularly on the nose or with palate heat. My preference runs to the more piercing and taut style of the 2016 vintage. This noted, an enjoyable drink. Looking forward to the next tasting experience.
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Decanted 60 minutes and drunk over the next hour. Dark purple-ruby. Smelled blackberry, black currant, pepper, and well integrated oak; tasted peppery and herbal with some meat. Big with present tannin slightly prevailing over the acidity, but the 15% alcohol is invisible even at room temperature. Finishes dry, savory, olivey and long.
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Nose dark cherry, blackcurrant, star anise, peppers. Palate blackcurrant and touch of black olive on the end. Black pepper, touch of dark chocolate and tarr?.
Tannins present but not overwhelming. Still v young but drinking now - will develop and mature for sure. clearly a big and alcoholic wine. Good value for the price.
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From a bottle that was decanted through a Vinturi aerator, this opaque crimson wine fully spread its wings after 60-90 minutes in carafe. Packed with blackberries, cassis, licorice, dried herbs, graphite and black olive tapenade, it is a full-bodied, freshly acidic, proportionately oaked Syrah with plentiful fine-grained tannins and well-integrated alcohol (despite being listed as 15%). Dense on the mid-palate and lengthy on the back end, this is a terrific Crozes that should easily reach its fifteenth birthday. Drink now-2034.
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PNP with no formal notes. It was very enjoyable and went very well with wonderful cajun food. I believe this wine has more to give, so, next time it will be decanted first.
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I had already pre-loaded a gigantic stiffy in anticipation of this wine from the heralded 2019 vintage and I really love to guzzle Crozes -H whilst I wait for the Hermitage to come around.
This note is made on 2nd evening opened, no decant (cursed am I for slackness - actually it is to do with being a solo drinker and wanting to keep the wine in bottle so I can enjoy over several days. And I am a lazy swine). Using the CT scale I score this as 'Excellent', but I could easily have bumped it up to 'Outstanding' based on value, or on merit of the wine alone. The reasons I did not follow.
First, the colour really gets the juices flowing. Deep, verging on inky red-purple and you know this is really going to slam! The aromas of spice, black pepper, dark plums and blueberries come welling up even as you focus on the colour. If this is cavalry, we are talking the cuirassiers and General d'Hautpoul.
As I am sure you all know, the cuirassiers were big men on big horses and they were an elite, used to smash their way through enemy formations. It may be apocryphal, but one reads of a tradition that would be recruits were given 3 horses, 3 whores and 3 bottles of wine. They had to ride 3 courses in a certain time, consume the wine and bed the whores. Presumably, getting this order of things mixed up and riding the whores whilst bedding the horses and drinking the wine would be considered spirited, but poor form and result in you being sent off to the hussars where that sort of thing was more tolerated (they being more imaginative).
The point is, this wine does put me in mind of rather bold, full blooded, take no prisoners sort of stuff. The wine is huge and I mean it is almost Barossa huge. It is at least 22 hands (horse or stiffy, you choose).
I was worried that the 15% ABV might be an issue and it is not, directly. There is enough fruit and pepper and general high cockalorum to handle the punch. There's some pretty dark tannins that are ripe and not chunky holding things together with an impression of black tea, or a whiff of grapeshot. By the way, despite my comment on Barossa huge, you would never think it a Barossa wine, which is not to decry the Barossa and its sturdy heavy infantry and 18lb canon wines.
"So, what is the issue, you effeminate, emigre cavalry type?" I hear you bellow through your moustaches. I think it is this - there is a hint of prune on day 2 that speaks to the 15% ABV. Right now, not so much of an issue, but down the track it may well be, for much though I love the windy qualities of prunes that I eat, I have a certain hesitation about them in my wine. Acid, too, might be a little on the low side.
Be clear, blessed children (and horses, whores and bottles of wine), these are not shocking issues; they are hints, allegations and maybe better palates would say they should be left unsaid.
I am still comfortable that this wine makes me think of the magnificent cuirassier, General d'Hautpoul and, especially, the magnificent, decisive, cavalry charge at Eylau in which they crossed 2.3km of broken ground, into the teeth of enemy grapeshot, at a walk on their horses for all but the last 100 or so meters before charging to break the infantry squares wide open and have their revenge on the gun line beyond. As General Lepic said to his Horse Grenadiers as they moved into the storm of fire, "Heads up gentlemen! Those are bullets not turds."
And so, dear reader, the possible issues with this wine are bullets, not turds. Show no fear. But they do make me hold back from an 'Outstanding' or 'Stormy Daniels Loves Me' rating. Yet, I do love how this wine makes me feel and I am damned sure that with a bottle of this in me, a really filthy whore recently with me and large horse under me, I could breach the bloody squares at Waterloo and history would be a damned sight better for it. Vive l'Empereur! Vive Napoleon! Vive 2019 Jabbers Crozes-H!
Glas: Gabriel Gold. Deep opaque red. Herbal, creamy Syrah fruit after 10min (with some swirling). Hint of spices. On the palate you find red and blue fruits, liquorice pastilles, very silky tannins (which are pretty herb / stemmy, but again silky; paradox). The acidity is just right and keep the not noticeable 15% vol in balance. Nice finish, but noteworthy the wine seems in this stage quite disjointed, but all components are there. Wait for 4 years.
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Impressive drop from my favourite Jaboulet red (after La Chapelle, of course). Deep purple in the glass. Very aromatic - floral, red & black berry fruit, cooking spices. Smooth with gentle, but firm tannins, moderate acidity and high alcohol. This will need 2-3 months to settle down, but it really offers awesome value.
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Old vineyards (up to 150 years!), big pebble, near Mule Blanche. Yields massively reduced by hail (check numbers) Near opaque appearance Super nose: big, gorgeous ripe Syrah – a touch of speckled pepper, great sweetness, creamy dark cherry fruit, blackcurrant pastilles too, with some leafy raspberry highlights. Ample and deep, good density, great purity and definition. Full and broad in the mouth, some inkiness and candied liquorice, this is notably concentrated and has a little grip with it. Creamy and supple, lovely spicy dark fruit, and again a touch of fresher, leafier red fruits too. Impressive!
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4/2/2024 - nymetz Likes this wine: 92 Points
Drinking very nicely with lots of soft fruit and texture. I was surprised how much I like this especially having seen some less favorable reviews. Great value at this price point.
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3/16/2024 - Sauvyfan wrote: 87 Points
not a good effort here. I've purchased many vintages of this wine and have found it to be quite a value. This vintage is just hot and messy.
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2/24/2024 - La Ronde Likes this wine: 88 Points
In a weird place right now. I know this wine - It *should improve. Drink after’26.
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12/19/2023 - adamanko wrote: 92 Points
After two years it was in a very good drinking window. Some secondary notes. Very good. 92-93.
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12/18/2023 - Labrador Does not like this wine: 65 Points
This particular bottle was very different from my previous bottles, which I have enjoyed. This one was off. It was not flawed but was definitely not good.
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8/28/2023 - evanqian wrote: 91 Points
dark berries, dense and rich, savoury notes, some bacon, spices and herbals, with a concentrated fruity core, m+ body, not complex but quite completed structure. some chocolate in m+ finish.
Ap 5/5, Ar 12/15, Palate 17/20, Overall 4+3/10
Total 91+/100
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7/30/2023 - evanqian wrote: 92 Points
deep ruby, moderate tertiary smells in nose, leather, bacon and mushroom. fresh berries dominating palate, juicy and a little sweet, m+ body, fine grained tannins, solid acidity, some mild pepper, lingering long with some mocha and cedar notes.
A seductive Northern Rhone with good freshness and complexity.
WS 91, WA 93-96, JD 92-94, JS 92, VN 92, RC 19.0
Ap 5/5, Ar 12/15, Palate 17/20, Overall 4+4/10
Total 92+/100
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5/7/2023 - Motz wrote: 92 Points
Ripe and opulent. Juicy, savory, and wholly delicious. Fatter than I prefer, but the wine does not lack for substance. Not an extended ager, but several years in the cellar will serve it well. It might improve, marginally. Paired with beef pot roast.
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4/1/2023 - Burgundy Al wrote: 89 Points
Small glass. Black berries throughout with a slightly sweet fruit and spice note that I hope will dissipate. Overall good weight and depth.
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3/17/2023 - Motz wrote: 92 Points
In an open, ripe, and opulent style, while maintaining appealing old school balance. A whole lot of substance, expansive, and gritty. Delightful notes of smokehouse and cured meats. One feels the 15 abv, but not particularly on the nose or with palate heat. My preference runs to the more piercing and taut style of the 2016 vintage. This noted, an enjoyable drink. Looking forward to the next tasting experience.
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3/5/2023 - Brian Glas Likes this wine: 91 Points
Tasted after 1 hour of air. Medium ruby color. Spicy red berry fruit with good balancing grip. Drying tannins. Some cocoa notes. Medium finish.
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1/15/2023 - ayalao3 wrote: 93 Points
Agree with Lazy’s tasting note
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12/25/2022 - lazy Likes this wine: 92 Points
Decanted 60 minutes and drunk over the next hour. Dark purple-ruby. Smelled blackberry, black currant, pepper, and well integrated oak; tasted peppery and herbal with some meat. Big with present tannin slightly prevailing over the acidity, but the 15% alcohol is invisible even at room temperature. Finishes dry, savory, olivey and long.
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12/20/2022 - fatcabbie wrote:
Found this baby at the Idaho Falls Costco for 25/bl.
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12/15/2022 - ayalao3 wrote: 93 Points
Easy 92-93 pt wine.
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10/26/2022 - spinnin_and_sippin Likes this wine: 88 Points
Lacks the concentration and acidity compared to other vintages.
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7/11/2022 - remyworldpeace wrote: 87 Points
Nose dark cherry, blackcurrant, star anise, peppers. Palate blackcurrant and touch of black olive on the end. Black pepper, touch of dark chocolate and tarr?.
Tannins present but not overwhelming. Still v young but drinking now - will develop and mature for sure. clearly a big and alcoholic wine. Good value for the price.
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6/7/2022 - La Cave d'Argent Likes this wine: 93 Points
From a bottle that was decanted through a Vinturi aerator, this opaque crimson wine fully spread its wings after 60-90 minutes in carafe. Packed with blackberries, cassis, licorice, dried herbs, graphite and black olive tapenade, it is a full-bodied, freshly acidic, proportionately oaked Syrah with plentiful fine-grained tannins and well-integrated alcohol (despite being listed as 15%). Dense on the mid-palate and lengthy on the back end, this is a terrific Crozes that should easily reach its fifteenth birthday. Drink now-2034.
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5/6/2022 - Labrador Likes this wine: 88 Points
PNP with no formal notes. It was very enjoyable and went very well with wonderful cajun food. I believe this wine has more to give, so, next time it will be decanted first.
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3/17/2022 - BaronsPaw Likes this wine: 87 Points
Very pleasant on the nose but quite mundane on the palate. Reasonable dinner wine for the price, but a bit of a let-down.
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2/26/2022 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine: 93 Points
I had already pre-loaded a gigantic stiffy in anticipation of this wine from the heralded 2019 vintage and I really love to guzzle Crozes -H whilst I wait for the Hermitage to come around.
This note is made on 2nd evening opened, no decant (cursed am I for slackness - actually it is to do with being a solo drinker and wanting to keep the wine in bottle so I can enjoy over several days. And I am a lazy swine). Using the CT scale I score this as 'Excellent', but I could easily have bumped it up to 'Outstanding' based on value, or on merit of the wine alone. The reasons I did not follow.
First, the colour really gets the juices flowing. Deep, verging on inky red-purple and you know this is really going to slam! The aromas of spice, black pepper, dark plums and blueberries come welling up even as you focus on the colour. If this is cavalry, we are talking the cuirassiers and General d'Hautpoul.
As I am sure you all know, the cuirassiers were big men on big horses and they were an elite, used to smash their way through enemy formations. It may be apocryphal, but one reads of a tradition that would be recruits were given 3 horses, 3 whores and 3 bottles of wine. They had to ride 3 courses in a certain time, consume the wine and bed the whores. Presumably, getting this order of things mixed up and riding the whores whilst bedding the horses and drinking the wine would be considered spirited, but poor form and result in you being sent off to the hussars where that sort of thing was more tolerated (they being more imaginative).
The point is, this wine does put me in mind of rather bold, full blooded, take no prisoners sort of stuff. The wine is huge and I mean it is almost Barossa huge. It is at least 22 hands (horse or stiffy, you choose).
I was worried that the 15% ABV might be an issue and it is not, directly. There is enough fruit and pepper and general high cockalorum to handle the punch. There's some pretty dark tannins that are ripe and not chunky holding things together with an impression of black tea, or a whiff of grapeshot. By the way, despite my comment on Barossa huge, you would never think it a Barossa wine, which is not to decry the Barossa and its sturdy heavy infantry and 18lb canon wines.
"So, what is the issue, you effeminate, emigre cavalry type?" I hear you bellow through your moustaches. I think it is this - there is a hint of prune on day 2 that speaks to the 15% ABV. Right now, not so much of an issue, but down the track it may well be, for much though I love the windy qualities of prunes that I eat, I have a certain hesitation about them in my wine. Acid, too, might be a little on the low side.
Be clear, blessed children (and horses, whores and bottles of wine), these are not shocking issues; they are hints, allegations and maybe better palates would say they should be left unsaid.
I am still comfortable that this wine makes me think of the magnificent cuirassier, General d'Hautpoul and, especially, the magnificent, decisive, cavalry charge at Eylau in which they crossed 2.3km of broken ground, into the teeth of enemy grapeshot, at a walk on their horses for all but the last 100 or so meters before charging to break the infantry squares wide open and have their revenge on the gun line beyond. As General Lepic said to his Horse Grenadiers as they moved into the storm of fire, "Heads up gentlemen! Those are bullets not turds."
And so, dear reader, the possible issues with this wine are bullets, not turds. Show no fear. But they do make me hold back from an 'Outstanding' or 'Stormy Daniels Loves Me' rating. Yet, I do love how this wine makes me feel and I am damned sure that with a bottle of this in me, a really filthy whore recently with me and large horse under me, I could breach the bloody squares at Waterloo and history would be a damned sight better for it. Vive l'Empereur! Vive Napoleon! Vive 2019 Jabbers Crozes-H!
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12/16/2021 - memberberry Likes this wine: 91 Points
Glas: Gabriel Gold.
Deep opaque red. Herbal, creamy Syrah fruit after 10min (with some swirling). Hint of spices. On the palate you find red and blue fruits, liquorice pastilles, very silky tannins (which are pretty herb / stemmy, but again silky; paradox). The acidity is just right and keep the not noticeable 15% vol in balance. Nice finish, but noteworthy the wine seems in this stage quite disjointed, but all components are there. Wait for 4 years.
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4/28/2021 - grapenomad wrote: 92 Points
Impressive drop from my favourite Jaboulet red (after La Chapelle, of course). Deep purple in the glass. Very aromatic - floral, red & black berry fruit, cooking spices. Smooth with gentle, but firm tannins, moderate acidity and high alcohol. This will need 2-3 months to settle down, but it really offers awesome value.
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2/16/2021 - Shrewsram Likes this wine: 92 Points
Old vineyards (up to 150 years!), big pebble, near Mule Blanche.
Yields massively reduced by hail (check numbers)
Near opaque appearance
Super nose: big, gorgeous ripe Syrah – a touch of speckled pepper, great sweetness, creamy dark cherry fruit, blackcurrant pastilles too, with some leafy raspberry highlights. Ample and deep, good density, great purity and definition.
Full and broad in the mouth, some inkiness and candied liquorice, this is notably concentrated and has a little grip with it. Creamy and supple, lovely spicy dark fruit, and again a touch of fresher, leafier red fruits too. Impressive!
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