Community Tasting Note
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pablopilot Likes this wine: 93 points
December 11, 2017 - When I was starting out trying to understand wine, I gravitated to Rhones. They were pretty accessible, price, flavor and availability-wise, they are relatively simple, and there are relatively few producers and appellations, unlike Bordeaux and, gasp, Burgundy. Also, it seemed somewhat "counter" to the mainstream, and Parker himself was clearly a Rhone fan.
Mostly, over time, I've moved on. The CDPs I've loved have tended to age poorly, their peppery notes overwhelming the fruit. The 100-point Lalas I bought in the 90s have mostly cracked up, despite impeccable storage. The best of the lot has tended to be the white Hermitages, which in general outlast and out age their Burgundian counterparts.
To make a long story short: the '03 La Chapelle has been in my cellar since release. I'd sort of forgotten about it, along with the rest of my Rhones. But seeing that lonely bottle sitting there (actually, it had one mate) incited curiosity...
Hmmm... wow... almost. Not a roasted, tarry, leathery Hermitage at all; something more like a very good Chambertin. Looong finish of slightly sour grapefruit and pomegranate... slight plumminess, some sweet raspberry syrup and some treacle. Very sweet on the nose, cherries and brandy notes. Brown sugar. All very well-knit, plenty of tannin, but soft and integrated. Mouthfeel is somewhat limited, not an opulent sort of presentation, but round and solid, with plenty of stuffing. We drank with chicken cutlets and spaghetti squash, not sure this wine is really a "roasted meats" kind of wine. But maybe next time we'll see. My guess is that the holding time for this wine is more or less infinity -- it is not in any sense a shiraz syrah, but it does seem timeless and ageless in the same way the best Aussie wines can be.4 people found this helpful 3,886 views