Alain Jaume & Fils

tasing with Christophe Jaume from Alain Jaume & Fils from Chateauneuf du Pape. Attended at the room downstairs at Ultimo with Ben, Dave and Frank from wine ark. 3 brackets of 4 wines and a bit of food to finish.

the second wine is a straight Viognier harvested young to retain freshness. The two CndPs are both 100% Rousanne (and the winery and vineyard are right next door to Beaucastel). Apparently no malolactic on either of these despite me picking up a certain buttery richness on the nose of both of these wines

• 2012 Alain Jaume Côtes du Rhône Blanc Reserve Grand Veneur

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône

  Peachy stone fruit, cream, clean, slight wet stone minerality and spice. Medium acid, flavours of peaches and apricot, spicy and alcohol warmth on the back palate…Hmm

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• 2012 Domaine Grand Veneur Blanc de Viognier

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône

  Slightly funky, spice over stone fruit and hints of orange and ginger. In the mouth the wine has medium plus acid, orange and ginger with apricot notes, medium plus length, quite fresh. Okay

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• 2011 Domaine Grand Veneur Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc La Fontaine

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

  Bees wax, almonds, ripe apricots, and stone fruit, spice, slight oxidation, butter toast, almost wood glue notes - not unpleasant though. Quite strong oak aromas. In the mouth the wine is rich, round mouthful - quite mouth filling. Spicy, ripe stone fruit and marzipan, front of mouth phenolic grip. Long. very good and difficult to spit.

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• 2010 Domaine Grand Veneur Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc La Fontaine

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

  Slightly dusty and muted. Rich apricot notes, slightly dusty toast, spice and soggy almonds, cream, lemon hints. In the mouth the wine has flavours of rich, ripe apricot, spice, marzipan, toast and marzipan, quite waxy textured. Long but perhaps lacks a little acidity if I was looking for a flaw. with time honeysuckle elements become apparent. Nice

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the rose was a bit meh. The rouge quite good value and may contain some semi-cab mac (very non-commital response from Christophe "we will if we think the wine needs it"). The Les Champauvins was nice and the Lirac was impressive - despite the 50% Grenache the 30% Syrah seems to be in charge at the moment in this latter wine.

• 2012 Alain Jaume Côtes du Rhône Rosé Reserve Grand Veneur

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône

  Creamy red fruit, quite generic and herby notes. In the mouth the wine has medium plus acidity, primary juicy red berry and ripe apple fruit. Moderate herb notes and quite a lot of alcohol warmth and spice on the finish. Meh

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• 2011 Alain Jaume Côtes du Rhône Reserve Grand Veneur

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône

  Dark red and black fruit tending to fruit cake. Spice, slight peppery notes, clean, polished and with slightly savoury notes and olive hints. In the mouth the wine has flavours of red berries and spice over black pepper and black fruit notes. Fine talc like tannin on the mid palate and spice beings to dominate on the medium plus finish. Fresh. Easy. Pleasant

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• 2010 Domaine Grand Veneur Côtes du Rhône Les Champauvins

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône

  Polished red berries, cream, and slight vanilla as well, spice, confected notes and very slight black pepper notes as well as hints of charcuterie and chocolate. In the mouth the wine is spicy, dense, rich with jam compote and savoury vanilla. Grippy tannins and the fruit carries on the a long finish that introduces liquorice. Nice

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• 2010 Alain Jaume Lirac Clos de Sixte

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Lirac

  Medium minus intensity aromas of meat, black pepper, leather, black berry and very slight candied red currant. Touches of black olive and a certain briny quality. In the mouth the wine is rich, thick, spicy with black pepper and black berry fruit, plenty of spice in fact and joined by tongue coating tannin that is slightly course. Dense on the palate. Long finish. Very nice. Needs time.

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And as we scale the quality tree we also climb the cost branch…Personally, and though these were very good wines, I didn't see anything to merit the amount being charged…

• 2009 Alain Jaume Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieux Terron Flawed

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

  FLAW - corked. After Christophe gave us a big talk about how Jaume avoids cork taint and has a very low strike rate (1-2% max) it was inevitable that we encounter a corked bottle. Apparently this is the first from his trip.

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• 2009 Alain Jaume Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieux Terron

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

  Aromas of meaty red berry fruit, slight funky notes, sweet tobacco and spice. In the mouth there are flavours of red over black fruit, spice, quite fine but firm tannins, alcohol heat intrudes on the finish and is joined by touches of liquorice as well. Surprisingly simplistic. Hmm.

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• 2010 Domaine Grand Veneur Châteauneuf-du-Pape Les Origines

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

  Medium minus intensity aromas of polished red fruit, cream, vanilla, hints of black olive and black pepper and quite perfumed top notes. In the mouth the wine has medium plus acidity, spice and almost mint notes here, plentiful chalky tannin, ripe blackberry and cherry, quite savoury and bring and broad on the palate. A good wine but only an okay for me...just not my, ahh, cup of tea so to speak.

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• 2009 Domaine Grand Veneur Châteauneuf-du-Pape Les Origines

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

  Polished red berry over black cherry fruit, cream, vanilla, spice notes and black pepper. Fleshy but also, for all it's robustness, it is elegant. I also pick up earthy elements as well. On the palate the wine has juicy acidity, red berry and black cherry fruit, maraschino cherries here as well, spicy, savoury, touches of black olives encroach on the long finish with chewy tannins. Very nice.

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• 2009 Domaine Grand Veneur Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes

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

  Medium plus intensity aromas of vanilla and spice over red and black fruit, perfumed notes. In the mouth there is juicy acidity, zesty in fact. Cream and vanilla over red and black cherry notes. The tannins are very chewy, savoury and tough - though ripe. A puppy. still very young and the oak dominates the nose and the palate currently. Needs a lot of time to settle down.

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All in all a very good tasting. The basic Cotes du Rhone Rouge was rather better than normal basic Cotes du Rhone. The Lirac and the Les Champauvins were both very good value for what they were. The CndP's were, perhaps, a little overpriced. My favourite for the night was probably the 2011 Fontaine 100% Rousanne - very impressive but at the price I'm more tempted by the Beaucastel Vielle Vignes which I feel offers more bang for the buck.