Rhone Night

A very interesting evening. Theme was Rhone, North and South, we had four whites and eleven reds and one sweet paired with some Russian food. The whites went with salad and borsch, while the reds went with some yummy grilled and roasted meats. Whites in one flight reds in the other, all blind, all jumbled up so that we did not know North from South or one person's wines from another. Voting was done at the end of each flight. The favourite white was quite overwhelmingly the Guigal Ex Voto, while the top 3 reds in order a Rayas Pignan, a really surprising old Cotes du Rhone and a Cdp Bois de Boursan Cuvee Felix. Unfortunately, mention needs to be made that two producers with bigger reputations, namely Rene Rostaing with a Cote Rotie and Jaboulet with a La Chapelle, showed really disappointingly, ending up at the bottom of the voting pile.

• 2001 E. Guigal Ermitage Blanc Ex-Voto 92 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  This was voted the favourite of the four Rhone whites amongst most of the table if I recall correctly. I preferred the Caillou CDP blanc myself for being effortlessly yummy, but I certainly thought that this one was perhaps the more interesting wine. The nose was very rich and full, with deep aromas of honey and custard apple at the fore, some minerally earth and savoury meat scents, a touch of salty sea-breeze and, with time, whiffs of almond nut and dried flowers. Lots of complexity there. There was a lot going on on the palate as well. Again, there were nice deep flavours here - beeswax, roasted nut, ripe white fruit, a very floral uplift, and then a midpalate marked with more savoury notes of bread fruit and a touch of fig, all tailing away into an earthy, spicy and ever so slightly mineral finish. The seafood salad that we drank this with then drew out all sorts of perfumy florals on the back-palate. There was tons of creamy, almost oily textured weight here, but a streak of surprisingly high acidity somehow managed to keep it all very lively in spite of its size. An interesting wine, this was complex and full of character. It is a bit of a pity that its balance was disturbed by a ring of alcohol on the palate. Otherwise, this would have been very good indeed.

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• 2009 Jean-Pierre Boisson Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Domaine du Père Caboche 90 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  I have never had anything from this producer before, but this bottle was pretty good. I liked the nose here, it was a bit earthy, a bit funky, even a bit reductive with a touch of rubber asting around, but past that there were very pretty accents of flowers, ripe guava and maybe some slightly preserved kumquats. Very expressive, this showed a brighter range of aromas than the Hermitage Blanc on the same flight. The palate was similarly very bright and perky as well, with a good bit of fresh, surprisingly mouthwatering acidity on the attack making its way through white fruit, guava and almost a bit of ripe gooseberry flavours. On the midpalate, these rode above a weighty base of honey, beeswax and spice notes that stretched into a pretty decent finish. Rather less complex than the other whites, but this wine had nice crisp balance and energy to it that made it very drinkable. Nothing mindblowing, but this was a well made, good to drink Cdp Blanc.

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• 1991 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Blanc De L'Orée 92 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  This was a bit of a strange wine to me. World beating on the nose and the start of the palate, it completely fell off the cliff in a thinned-out finish. In fact, this had the best nose of all among the four white Rhones. This had a classic aged Hermitage character to it, with earthy, slightly mushroomy undergrowth nuances undergirding higher-toned scents of spiced apples and beeswax along with sweet flowery notes. Complex, honeyed, yet deep and savoury at the same time - this was a beautiful nose. The palate was really beautiful from the attack and into its midpalate as well, with rich fruited flavours of yellow plums and apricots, a touch of chrysanthemum and a nice honeyed ring - all wonderfully integrated and wonderfully balance. It was a really introduction that unfortunately flattered to deceive, given how the wine proceeded to thin out quite alarmingly towards the back-end, tailing away in a skinny layer of mineral, honey and spice ringed by another linger of chrysanthenum tea - a weak finish that really left the drinker wanting more out of the wine. Altogether a bit incomplete then. Sigh. Still though, this was so fantastically integrated and put together with its charming little nuances that I could not help loving it for whatever good it showed while it lasted.

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• 2004 Le Clos du Caillou Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc 93 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  This was really very nice. While the pair of Hermitage Blancs may have been more intellectually interesting, this was probably the white that gave the most immediate pleasure. It had a really expressive nose, just bursting with Chinese pears, beeswax aromas, almond jelly scents and drifts of white musk. Very different from the other whites on show, but very attractive in its own idiosyncratic way. The palate was really yummy too, with its rich, warm flavours of boiled Chinese pears, damp earth, warm spices, cooked honey and a bit of white meat - lots of sweet fruit flavours wed to savoury low notes. Interesting stuff. The finish was impressive as well - full, deep, super-long, it had lots of honey, warm yellow fruit and spice notes pulling away into the distance. An extremely enjoyable wine. At a nice place now if you like your CdP whites matured. This may have lost some of the crisp citrus notes of youth, but what you get instead is a warm, honeyed glow. While some of the others may have preferred one of the other of its Northern neighbours, this was my favourite white of the day.

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• 1988 E. Guigal Côtes du Rhône 92 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône

  Wow. This had held up really well for a Côtes du Rhône and it was drinking very nicely indeed. It smelt for all the world like a red Burg, a Nuit St-Georges to be exact, with subtle scents of dark cherries, earth, raw meat, spice and wet stones. If we were not having a Rhone-theme dinner, I would have sworn that it was from Burgundy on that nose alone. It was only on the palate where the Rhone character showed up more, with darker fruited blackberries and blueberries mingling with the cherry nuances picked up on the nose. The telltale sign though was a meaty, slightly leathery animale tone on the midpalate that added a good punch to the fruit. I really liked this. Not mindblowing complex, but very interesting indeed, with lots of stuffing for wine of its level too. To add to that, it had a really nice sense of balance and focus and a lovely silky feel, yet still remaining firm enough to carry through into a lip-smackingly satisfying finish, where bits of dried plum and red dates mingled with earthy, meaty and spicey notes. Not the longest end in the world, but really quite yummy. Such a surprise, this was a really good wine and one that seemed quite a bit younger than its 23 years of age would suggest as well.

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• 2006 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Pignan Reserve 93 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Voted the favourite red of the night, this really stood out from the rest of the wines on show with its fun, exuberant sassiness. It had a super perfumed nose, chocked full of sweet red cherry scents, tons of rose petals and bright bits of orange peel, sandlewood, wood spice and boiled herb. A fantastic nose - really, really pretty. The palate was a delight to drink. Here, softly melting tannins were draped over a lovely core of pure red cherry and raspberry fruit, almost Maraschino-like at times, and then the midpalate was drenched with flavours of rose water and rose petals. It ended with lovely round back-palate glowing with a natural sweetness in its red fruited flavours. The acidity was not the highest, but balance was very decent. Right at the very end of the evening, the wine unfolded yet again with lovely notes of spice, earth and Chinese herbs tailing away in a long finish. A hedonistic wine. This may have lacked the structure and aging potential of some of the others reds on show, but it was drinking so well now that I one can almost discount that.

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• 1988 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 93 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  This was my thired outing with the 1988 Beaucastel, and it was probably the best showing yet. While the first bottle was at the end of its life and the second really out of whack, this actually showed a lot younger and fresher. Really nice stuff. We all spotted it as a Beaucastel from the funky nose, with its wafts of wet earthy aromas, slightly animale meatiness and leathery tones. Past that, there the usual aged Beaucastel Mouvedre inflections drifted out of the glass with notes of black tea, dark fruit reminiscent of black cherries and some plums, and a little note of boiled herbs. Really nice. The palate really threw us off when in came to vintage though. Most guessed late 1990s, HM got 1994, and I thought it may have a been a high acid year like 1986. Such was the great freshness on the wine that the first thing to strike you was the tingling vibrancy on the attack. However, unlike the last two bottles I had, this also had lots of depth - layered, rich, it gently coated the palate with subtle flavours dark cherries and blackberries touched by a ring of bloody, meaty, iron mineral notes. It came across very nicely plush and mellow, obviously aged in that respect, but the fruit still quite primary and there was plenty of structure and energy in there too. It sure gave a lot of pleasure, especially when paired with chicken shashlik, just that it did not have the great complexity that its siblings say in 1989 or 1990 had. This bottle could still have gone on for some time yet and may have developed some extra oomph if we did not cut short its live. Nevertheless, I thought it was quite excellent.

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• 2000 Rene Rostaing Côte-Rôtie Cuvée Classique 88 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

  Disappointing from Rene Rostaing. While objectively a decent wine, it was also one of the most anonymous on the night. The nose was rather sweet at first, with a thick swirl of slightly candy cherries and then some earthy scents and a touch of herbs. Strange thing though was that it was all rather muted after the intial sweet aromas. The palate was rather better. It had a nice fresh, brightness going for it and plush tannins cossetting its dark cherry and spice flavours. A bit one-dimensional across the mid-palate though and, unfortunately, the finish was rather mushy, a bit ill-defined as it petered away. Many did not like this, I thought it was ok but not great. Drinkable for sure and pretty good with lamb, but otherwise rather forgettable.

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• 1990 Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage 90 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Crozes-Hermitage

  An interesting wine. Decent, not great, but certainly very interesting. The nose was rather sauvage at first, with sweaty horse saddles, gym socks and wet earth at the fore and touches of boiled herbs and black fruit taking up the rear. That threw me off a bit - really one for the Brett lovers here. The palate, on the other hand, was very nice. Bright, energetic, lively, this had pure notes of dark cherries at the fore this time, with the more savoury notes of wet fur, meat and leather hanging in the background. I thought the wine just lacked a bit of depth so that acidity stuck out like bare bones in the midst of a skinnny midpalate. However, with food, the edginess did go down and the fruit plumped up ever so slightly. I still got a feeling that the wine had seem better days though, and the finish backed that up by dissipating after a short show of spice. Overall, a nice wine with lots of character, but perhaps just a bit tired.

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• 2004 Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie 90 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

  One of two Jamet Cote Roties on the night, this rather paled in comparison with the 2001. Still pretty good though, if perhaps in a rather awkward, shut-down phase. It certainly did seem a lot less vibrant than the last bottle I had two years ago. This started with an attractive nose of earth, garrigue and dried flowers accents drifting around a core of red cherry and meat aromas. The palate was attractive on first blush as well, with a sweet attack of black cherries and berries. Strangely, the flavours then seemed to hollow out completely on the midpalate, and the whole wine sunk into a bit of a grumpy stupour before a slightly smoky, spicy finish set in. Nice freshness, silky tannins, but lacks depth and authority at the moment so that it came across as well-made but nothing special. Far too young in my opnion. It is perhaps a sign of the its potential that it was great with our food, especially with grilled lamb which called out some dark fruit and mineral responses from the depths of the wine. One to revisit in 10 years.

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• 2000 Domaine Bois de Boursan Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée des Félix 93 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  This was very nice indeed. While not quite the WOTN, it was nevertheless a big hit with the table. Of all the Southern Rhone wines on show, this was perhaps the most "Northern". It had a horsey, funky, leathery nose, replete with boiled herbs, wet earth aromas and just a subtle undertow of black fruit and a bit of smoke. Atractive in its own way, but like with the Chaillot Crozes one flight earlier, you must like a certain type of bouquet to have enjoyed that. The palate was another story though. This was really lovely in every sense. Wonderful freshness, lovely integration, really fine tannins - it was a joy to take it in with its gentle smoky flavours wreathing around a core of black fruit, cooked meat and white peppery spices with just a hint of flowers at the finish. A really nice CdP crafted in a more masculine style. It was perhaps not the strongest showing in the world in that I thought it lacked some depth and breadth of flavours that more time in the bottle may have drawn out, but even then it was in quite a lovely place for drinking.

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• 1996 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle 88 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  I am not sure what went wrong here. This was possibly the wine with biggest reputation and one the biggest price tags, yet it was by far the most mediocre and disappointing wine on the night. It is perhaps even more of a disappointment given that the last bottle I had was actually really good. The less than attractive nose was already a rather inauspicious start. A bit reductive perhaps, this was a strange mix of sweaty leather and burnt matchsticks along with rather muted notes of black fruit and smoke. The palate was just a bit better, with more of those black fruit and smoke flavours laced with high acid which carried the wine in rather energetic fashion towards a slightly spicey midpalate. It was well-shaped and nobly structured, but the flavours just seemed all a bit blunted as the wine moved into a very short and quite disappointing finish. A long decant may have helped things quite a bit, but I am not sure this bottle was all that good to begin with. I do not think that there was a fault here, just bottle variation maybe, but the wine was very ordinary indeed, even mediocre.

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• 2001 Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie 93 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

  Excellent stuff. While still very young, this was a world away from the stubbornly obtuse 2004. It had a beautiful nose with classic Cote Rotie notes of savoury meat, earth and smoke, gentle peppery spice and subtle black fruit aromas. There was a whiff of slightly green Japanese cucumber scents in there somwhere reflecting the coolness of the 2001 vintage - this was far from unpleasant though, rather adding an unusually fresh lift to the bouquet. The palate still showed a lot of youth in its rather deeply buried flavours. However, it was already drinking very well and very impressively with its whistle clean and wonderfully clear flavours of black berries and sweet cassis streaming alongside some earth, a bit of smoke and a touch of meat. This was an elegant, classy wine with really beautiful balance and focus. The finish ended on the up-note, super fresh and laced with fine tannins, it drifted off in a long, smoky tail. Very young, needs plenty of time yet, but this is an excellent wine, very complete and with a long future ahead of it. As one would expect, it was a gorgeous pairing with grilled lamb chops.

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• 2005 Domaine de Panisse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Noble Revelation 91 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Every now and then, one of these 2005 CdPs shows up and I am reminded of just how strong a vintage it is. This was made in a very sweet modern style, but I thought the strength of the vintage really carried the wine so that it was actually very drinkable and quite delicious. Apart from the Rayas, this had the most show-offy nose, with lots of fruit-cake aromas- think ripe black cherries, maraschino, kirsch and other dried fruit notes - along with some earth, a bit of meatiness and a nice waft of violets. Rich, deep and surprisingly complex for all its dark fruited sweetness, this was actually a very nice. The palate took off where the nose ended, showing for all the world like a deconstructed black-forest cake in its rich, black-fruited flavours of plums, black cherries and juniper berries, dark chocolate and black tea, all carried on a very plush, velvety structure. I would have preferred a smidgen more freshness on the midpalate - this was rather soft for a 2005, and acid was a bit on the lowish side too, but somehow the wine managed to keep in balance pretty well. While ripe, there was not a hint of heat of overt glycerol on this. The finish ended very powerful, with smoke, meat and spice notes, rather more savoury here, riding along a dark chocolatey core. Not one for the traditionalists, but I thought this was pretty good nonetheless.

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• 2001 Domaine de la Solitude (Lançon Père et Fils) Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve Secrète 92 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Another CdP in the more modern camp, but I thought this was very good. It had an excellent nose, full of rich, warm, very generous aromas of dark cherries and blackberries, earth and garrigue and violets. Really lovely. The palate was very solid as well. Again, it was warmly generous, even rich with deep flavours of blackberries, dark plums and black cherries lifting into a touch of kirsch on the midpalate. There were lovely layered depths of fruit here, yet the wine was beautifully balanced throughout. I cannot help but wonder whether this lovely balance would be out of whack on a warmer vintage than 2001. Even here, the balance of ripe fruit and acidity seemed more like a 2000 or 1998 than that of a cool year. While drinking quite well now, this wine still obviously had a lot more time to go before it reached peak. While the fruit had started to shed its primary nature, some fine tannins still marked the back-palate quite noticeably so that the wine came across as very well-built but needing some time to mellow and develop. It ended in a long finish lined with smokey notes curling around a layer of clear cassis fruit. Again, this may not to be to everyone's taste, but even then most of us on the table really enjoyed it.

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• 2006 Marie-Thérèse Chappaz Grain Noble Domaine les Claives 85 Points

  Switzerland, Valais

  How very unusual - a noble Marsanne from Valais (theoretically still part of the Rhone valley, just across the border in Switzerland says Chad). This was so sweet as to render it nigh undrinkable in more than tiny quantities. The nose was nice enough, with sweet notes of honey and caramel and sweet dried apricots and peaches. The palate was another story though. Thick, rich, syrupy and with as low a quantity of acidity as I have ever come across in a sweet wine, this was sweet to the point of being cloying. There was some fruit in there, but the sugar more or less overwhelms it. It worked kind of well with our Napoleon dessert, but more as a syrup topping than anything else. Just brealy drinkable in tiny sips. Not one to approach if you are in the least bit diabetic.

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