Trevallon 1985-2004
Tasted April 5, 2008 by Gregory Dal Piaz with 1,141 views
Introduction
After much prodding and planning Brad Kane finally pulled off a much awaited and often postponed Domaine Trevallon vertical last night. While my experience with Trevallon has been somewhat limited I do recall three separate explorations each spaced about 5 years apart over the past two decades so this evenings offering was timely indeed.
In my past encounters with Trevallon the wines always struck me as solid, slightly rustic wines with a split personality. I don’t recall exactly which vintages I tried, just the general time frames, but I do recall that my impression of the wines was that each vintage tended to be dominated by either the Syrah, or the Cabernet Sauvignon. Since the blend is 50/50 this was never particularly surprising but with the much broader sampling this evening I found that what I had perceived as pretty much black or white was in fact shaded with many tones of grey.
Overall the wines showed quite well being complete, balanced, and well structured. I have no information regarding the winemaking details at the estate but felt that the 1985 had a character intrinsically different from the subsequent wines. It felt more extracted with tannins that showed a bit more bitterness than the subsequent wines. Nonetheless the wines performed with admiral consistency of quality yet offered an unusually broad range of aromatics and flavors as each vintage expressed the best of what it had to offer.
In this regard the line-up was indeed a bit surprising. As noted there seemed to be quite a range of greys here. To better illustrate my thoughts let me instead say that the reds of the Cabernet and the blues of the Syrah produced a wide range of purples. This can be contrasted with say the reds of the typical cepage of Bordeaux, with a touch of blacks producing a range of reds, or the wide range of colors that would make up Chateuneuf-du-pape producing a consistently mottled effect.
So in this paradigm the experiential range that Trevallon offered across vintages was greater than I had experienced at comparable vertical tastings. This is the wines strongest suit. The wines offer a very unique expression of each vintage, and the winemaking, while at a very high level, seems to be geared toward expressing the vintage as opposed to achieving a particular ideal.
Flight 1 (2 notes)
Red
1985 Domaine de Trévallon
France, Provence, Les Baux-de-Provence
This starts out with a bit of bretty band-aid right out of the gate, the nose also offers up chalky minerality and muddy earth notes that add depth and complexity to a base of boysenberry jamminess. With time one finds a touch of mint, some tire rubber, a hint of leather and top notes of black olive and dried pine cone. In the mouth this is medium full bodied and fairly resolved with a solid core of acidity. The palate is richly savory though a touch drying with an intense mineral earth finish that is broad yet cut short by the brett and somewhat rustic tannins. Fore square and structured. This should be drunk in the near term, 2008-2013
Red
1990 Domaine de Trévallon
France, Provence, Les Baux-de-Provence
The nose her was lighter and less intense than the 1985 but it shares the calcite chalkiness and mint top notes though more towards menthol. The fruit here is redder, more cherried though with an underlying frutti di bosco quality that adds spice and sappiness, there is a more sauvage quality here with notes of game and not asphalt underpinning the fruit. In the mouth this is soft and expansive with a bitter mineral thread that knits the palate together with slightly medicinal cherry fruit and bitter orange zest on the palate leading to a finish where furry tannins build up a bit constriciting the very focused, long though slightly monotone finish. Offers a more refined, cleaner, more elegant package than the 1985. 2008-2013
Flight 2 (2 notes)
Red
1994 Domaine de Trévallon
France, Provence, Vin de Pays des Bouches-du-Rhône
The nose offers up a layered elegant package with balanced notes of cool mint, ash, olive, and floral tones over asphalt and spicy roast plum fruit. This is soft and lush in the mouth with excellent structural integration, ripe tannins and just a touch of slatey austerity. The midpalate is a touch aggressive with japanese salted plums and solid acidity that leads to a bright medium long finish that turns very cherried with airing. This turns more flamboyant and opulent with time retaining good cut to sour cherry fruit and a bit of brett adding complexity. This offered excellent energy in the mouth with the fruit playing off the slightly austere character of the wine. 2008-2015
Red
1995 Domaine de Trévallon
France, Provence, Vin de Pays des Bouches-du-Rhône
This immediately seems tauter and tighter on the nose with it's acid driven scents of citrus and lemon verbena adding complexity to the candlewax and roast meat savory tones. The fruit here is fresh and high toned. This is big and dense in the mouth with chewy, ripe tannins and solid acidity, dark brooding fruit that is spicy and tarry. This is both more angular than the preceding wines yet more elegant with excellent balance. Will benefit from further cellaring. 2010-2018
Flight 3 (2 notes)
Red
1998 Domaine de Trévallon
France, Provence, Vin de Pays des Bouches-du-Rhône
This is decidedly cool with a touch of green to the nose. Lots of charcoal here with a touch of vanilla and ash as well as the recurring notes of asphalt and menthol. This sems a bit less well knit together as the herbal cassis and olive tapenade notes vie for dominance. Again fairly dense and chewy with a very youthful palate impression that offers up lovely red fruits and ripe tannins. Very full flavored and a touch jammy up front and just a bit loose across the midpalate, this may just need more time to right itself but comes off as a bit clumsy. 2010-2018
Red
1999 Domaine de Trévallon
France, Provence, Vin de Pays des Bouches-du-Rhône
A touch lactic at first but cool and complete with red fruits tinged with a touch of confectioners sugar and subtle cocoa tones that recall tootsie rolls. With time subtle yet complex notes of roasted herbs and meat underlay the nose. This begins as quite compact and compressed with a touch of lactic cheesiness on the palate that disapates with air. This is very crisp in the mouth with crunchy fruit and a gentle touch of leafy greeness. Seemingly very Cab dominated yet with wonderful structural integration of the ripe tannins and acids and a finish that offers up slightly toasted notes with crisp blackberry fruit and a final floral flourish. Wonderful mouthfeel and balance. 2008-2018
Flight 4 (2 notes)
Red
2000 Domaine de Trévallon
France, Provence, Vin de Pays des Bouches-du-Rhône
We've got a little poop here though the nose is more obviously syrah driven with a perfumed quality to the olive and boysenbery jam notes that add tones of roasting coffee, musk and a touch of tobacco to the aromatic spectrum. Round and bright in the mouth, the acidity is quite intense at first, the leafy cab mid-palate leads to the dusty tannins of the finish that ends on a note of sweet espresso foam. Again a bit of an unmelded character here. This needs time but seems to have all the components to be excellent. 2011-2020
Red
2001 Domaine de Trévallon
France, Provence, Vin de Pays des Bouches-du-Rhône
This is in stark contrast to the 2001 with a return to a citrussy and floral nose. Very high toned with cranbery and peony and grace notes of older wood, dark fruit, damp cigar, ash and espresso foam. Seamless in the mouth yet cool and composed with a great core of earth and mineral tones. Very fine but very young with dark, dense ripe cabernet in equilibrium with the brighter, more chiseled syrah. the finish is very fine and young, great persistence. Complete but very young. 2012-2024
Flight 5 (2 notes)
Red
2003 Domaine de Trévallon
France, Provence, Vin de Pays des Bouches-du-Rhône
This is very ripe with an exotic nose - woody, lingonberries, warm fruit compote with a touch of apricot glaze and light floral and mineral undertones. Soft and rich in the mouth, opulent but ultimitly a touch simple with round fruit over a base of compressed earth and mineral tones finishing with clumsy and astringent tannins. Not particularly successful. 2010-2017
Red
2004 Domaine de Trévallon
France, Provence, Vin de Pays des Bouches-du-Rhône
Echoes of the 1999 here with excellent freshness as well as slight herbaceousness and a hint of cheesiness though the fruit is darker and more syrah driven than the 1999's. Lovely mint and mineral top notes and a whisper of violet. In the mouth this is tight and crisp with ripe tannins in balance allowing for the mineral tinged cherry fruit to peek through on the midpalate before clamping down on the finish. Great mouth feel and energy again. This should be a winner and may very well be the star of the line-up in due time. 2013-2025
Closing
I admire what Trevallon is doing and has achieved but I would be moved to repurchase only a few of the wines tasted tonight. As a group they were solid wines that worked very well at the dinner table but their appeal really was as a group as some of the wines on their own were a bit pedestrian. The great variety from vintage to vintage, while making this grouping more interesting, also makes it less likely that one knows what when is getting when trying a vintage on it’s own. In any event thanks Brad for putting this together it was a wonderful evening and a great experience.
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