A dinner with Michel Tardieu

Palm restaurant, London
Tasted Thursday, November 10, 2011 by Cooky474 with 846 views

Introduction

This was a tasting dinner organised by Corney & Barrow at the Palm restaurant in Sloane Square.

Michel and his son Bastien were both in attendance, and Bastien spoke at length about the wines at both the tasting and then the dinner afterwards. They spoke at length about their relationship with their growers, and how they would make all their wines "de-stemmed" if they were able to pursuade their growers.

Flight 1 from tasting notes, and the remainder from notes the following day.

Flight 1 - 2009 Tasting flight (5 Notes)

These were served upstairs with an introduction from Michel or Bastien.

  • 2009 Tardieu-Laurent Côtes du Rhône Guy Louis 85 Points

    France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône

    Grenache from Rasteau and Vacqueras both aged in old oak, and Syrah aged in new. A delicious if slightly simple wine, with sweet red fruits (cherries?) to the fore. This is a wine that deserves food, and will drink well for up to 8 years according to Michel.

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  • 2009 Tardieu-Laurent Rasteau Vieilles Vignes 87 Points

    France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Rasteau

    A blend of 75% Grenache and 25% Syrah, this is the first vintage following the promotion of the Rasteau appelation to AC status. More floral and delicate than the Guy Louis, and more body in the mouth. The nose exhibits darker fruits than the Guy Louis, and the tannins show more integration.

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  • 2009 Tardieu-Laurent Vacqueyras Vieilles Vignes 86 Points

    France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Vacqueyras

    A southern Rhone blend of 75% Grenache and 25% Syrah. The nose is red fruits once again (cherries) with spices and white pepper showing the Syrah. Full bodied with noticeably more tannins than the prvious wines in the line-up. Michel said that this will drink very well for the next 10-12 years.

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  • 2009 Tardieu-Laurent Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes 93 Points

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

    This is mainly Grenache with just a little Syrah. 100% de-stemmed fermenting and no new oak used. This is the biggest bodied wine of the evening so far, and has the longest length. Quite stunning wine.

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  • 2009 Tardieu-Laurent Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Spéciale 94 Points

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

    Old school CnDP made from 100% Grenache sourced from sandy soil, out of the wind and low in the appelation. 100% whole bunch fermented with no new oak. Outstanding mouth-feel with beguiling richness and depth to the nose and palate and a lovely long finish.

    Quite exceptional wine, if not typical of the appelation. This will be wonderful future drinking for those lucky enough to have some stashed away in the cellar.

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Flight 2 (1 Note)

  • NV Delamotte Champagne Brut 91 Points

    France, Champagne

    Very refreshing, highly enjoyable Champagne, albeit not what we were there to drink on this evening.

    Very good mousse and a stream of very fine bubbles that lasted through the dinner. One of my favourite NV's.

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Flight 3 (1 Note)

Served with roasted Nova Scotia lobster.

  • 2009 Tardieu-Laurent Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Vieilles Vignes 91 Points

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

    Served with Roasted Nova Scotia Lobster

    Made from 60% Grenache Blanc and 40% Roussanne and Bastian suggested that this wine will keep for quite a while.

    White peach and melon on the nose, full bodied, powerful yet still elegant and good length. This is a very good example of a white Rhone, albeit not my preferred style.

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Flight 4 - The prelude (2 Notes)

Served with wild mushrooms on toased brioche.

  • 2007 Tardieu-Laurent Hermitage 91 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

    Massive tannins, very meaty. Not integrated with primacy of fruit (both red and black). Hints of leather on the nose. Still a long way to go with this very young wine, served from magnum.

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  • 2004 Tardieu-Laurent Gigondas Vieilles Vignes 92 Points

    France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Gigondas

    Velvety-smooth despite being very (relatively) young. Superb finish that seemed to go on. Simply delicious - wish I had some stocked away!

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Flight 5 - The main event (2 Notes)

Served with prime rib with sautéed spinache, crispy polenta chips in a red wine reduction jus.

  • 1999 Tardieu-Laurent Côte-Rôtie Vieilles Vignes 98 Points

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

    A quite extraordinary wine.

    I was told that this dinner would be a "once in a lifetime opportunity" to try the near legendary 100 point Parker wine that was never released onto the market, and it didn't disappoint.

    Introduced by Michel himself, this was made from 100% Serine from the oldest plot of La Landonne and spent 36 months in new oak. The nose was amazing, with cassis, violets, bacon, chocolate and coffee seemingly changing with every swirl of the glass. In the mouth, the tannins were present, but exquistely melded into the wine. Full-bodied, yet almost ethereal with it seemingly hanging in the mouth rather than sitting in there, and with a length of well over a minute.

    This is a wine that I will remember and reflect upon for many a year - an absolute highlight of my vinous experiences...

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  • 2004 Tardieu-Laurent Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Spéciale 93 Points

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

    Served from magnum to accompany prime rib. This wine was definitely no slouch, but suffered being served as it was immediately after one of the most exceptional wine experiences in the 1999 Côte Rôtie - could therefore be another mark higher in other circumstances.

    Supremely elegant wine (100% Grenache), with rich fruit (raspberries?), seemlessly integrated tannins and voluptuous mouth-feel. One another night, a candidate for WoTN with the Gigondas.

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Flight 6 (1 Note)

Served with British cheeses.

  • 2009 Tardieu-Laurent Saint-Péray Blanc Vieilles Vignes

    France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Saint-Péray

    This wine was served with British cheeses.

    A blend of traditional varieties of Roussanne and Marsanne.

    I'm sure that this is a very well made, possibly even exceptional wine, but I was sitting there transfixed by the remnants of the Gigondas and the and Côte Rôtie which I alternated between, swirling, sniffing and living in the end of the moment...

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Closing

I'd not heard about the reputation of the 1999 Côte Rôtie (Michel declined to sell any of it after it was awarded the 100 from Parker), but suggest that family dinners are very special indeed with 60 odd cases of this knocking around the family cellars. What an extraordinary wine that will take something special indeed to remove it from my top 10 wine experiences.

Having never having tasted any of Michel's wines before this evening, I felt I came away with an appreciation of the style of how he was seeking to have the terroir express itself through each of his wines. I picked up several cases of the 2010's and look forward to being able to conduct a similar tasting of my own in years to come.

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