Northern Rhônes and a farewell

Noreetuh, NYC
Tasted Wednesday, January 15, 2025 by salil with 138 views

Flight 1 (3 Notes)

2013 Benoît Lahaye Champagne Violaine 94 Points

France, Champagne

And I for one welcome our new brut nature overlords. Well, this was outstanding and one of the best wines in this style I've had. There's a generosity and richness to the fruit that makes it very easy to drink, and layers of yeasty, lightly toasty, and more savoury chalky mineral elements that keep emerging around the fruit. Full of energy with bright acids and effervescence, but never once feeling lean or austere. Lovely wine.

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2013 Domaine de Montille Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Le Cailleret 91 Points

France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru

An impressive wine, packed with rich, primary fruit and mineral depth but remarkably youthful and barely showing any development yet even at this stage. There's impressive balance here with bright acids beneath the broad citrus and white fruited flavours, but it feels as if it needs a lot more time. Surprisingly, came across almost primordially young, while the (much younger) Fichet showed a lot more depth already.

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2021 Jean-Philippe Fichet Meursault Les Chevalières 93 Points

France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault

I'm starting to really love these Fichet wines. This is terrific; so airy and light on its feet, but with a piercing intensity to the bright citrus and pear fruit, and layers of light herbal, faintly floral, and chalky mineral elements around the fruit that keep building with air. Love the balance and sense of finesse here, and I really need to get more from this producer.

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Flight 2 (3 Notes)

1983 Pierre Barge Côte-Rôtie Flawed

France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

Corked, alas.

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1985 Clusel-Roch Côte-Rôtie 95 Points

France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

This had been double-decanted before dinner, and it showed so beautifully with red fruit, gentle meaty and floral notes, and mature developed earthy savouriness all coming together seamlessly on a gentle, medium-weight frame. The texture here is pure silk - the tannins are fully integrated and bright acids provide all the structure here, giving it plenty of lift and freshness. It expresses everything I'd want in older Côte-Rôtie, just a terrific wine.

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1985 Domaine de Vallouit Hermitage Les Greffières 90 Points

France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

This had also been double decanted before dinner and the first impressions were more in generic old wine territory with a dusty, faded quality to the fruit and an aged mushroomy/slightly cidery character on the back end. But it actually freshened up quite nicely with air as the gentle red and dark fruit started to brighten and gain intensity, and some of the mushroomy/cidery notes gave way to more savoury leather and earth. Much more enjoyable when revisiting it, when it started to show a lot more aged Syrah character.

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Flight 3 (2 Notes)

1991 Marie-Claude Lafoy et Vincent Gasse Côte-Rôtie 96 Points

France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

My first experience with this producer, and wowsa. What a terrific bottle. This was in incredible condition - a very high fill into the neck, and it was bursting with vibrant red fruits and black olives from the first sip, with an array of more savoury meaty and sweeter, high-toned floral and herbal notes accenting the fruit. So fragrant, with an almost perfumed intensity to the aromatics. There's a remarkable freshness to the fruit here that makes it feel much younger than its age, really bright acidity that gives it plenty of lift and energy, and the whole package is so easy to drink. Delicious.

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1991 Domaine Gallet (Henri et Philippe) Côte-Rôtie 98 Points

France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

These old Fat Farmers really are special. Another stellar bottle (thanks Z), all the same superlatives and expletives ("so fucking good!") as my last. So silken and elegant on the palate; incredibly fragrant and aromatically complex; red fruit and meat and green olives and spice all coming together seamlessly. What a terrific showing.

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Flight 4 (3 Notes)

1998 Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie 96 Points

France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

This bottle showed shockingly youthful - it needed a couple of hours in the decanter to really open out, but kept unraveling more layers of fruit, olives, and all kinds of savoury, smoky, and meaty flavours that all came together into a seamless whole. Power and intensity conveyed with the finesse and delicate touch I'd expect from Jamet. Just a stellar bottle of Côte-Rôtie and I'm glad I have a few more. (Note: This is a later release from the estate. Rare Wine Co brought these in around 2017 or 18, and they have the newer Jamet label with the gold and white background.)

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2001 Noël Verset Cornas 94 Points

France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas

So this was the first vintage Noël Verset made without his Sabarotte holdings, which he'd sold by this point (apparently to Clape and Courbis, per RWC). The wine doesn't have the breadth or intensity on the palate that the preceding vintages did - I wonder how much of that is the vintage, and how much is the loss of the Sabarotte parcel - but it's still very much Verset in character. There's that same smoky, meaty, gamey goodness around red and dark fruit, and that combination of the wild and sauvage side of Syrah with striking finesse and a delicate touch that very few could pull off. It also gives the impression it could still use more time, as there's still a spine of grainy tannin apparent on the back end that never goes away even with the duck to accompany it. Perhaps slightly lost in the flight alongside the otherworldly '99 Verset, but still very much a lovely wine - and something really special, when considering Verset's age at this point while still farming his remaining vineyards/holdings.

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1999 Noël Verset Cornas 100 Points

France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas

This showed like my platonic ideal of Cornas, and I can't imagine how this could have been any better, or provided more enjoyment on the night. Amazing aromatic complexity; an incredible scent combining all things meaty and leathery, olive, red and dark fruit, and more savoury brothy and earthy notes, and the palate conveys the same depth of flavour with both power and a lightness of touch. This is the Verset magic; the wildest and sauvage qualities of Syrah and Cornas on a frame showing finesse and delicate touch that almost nobody else could pull off. Incredible wine, the last of my bottles and I'm glad I opened this when I did - just the perfect time and occasion for this.

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