July 15, 2023 - Pretty special wine here. Huge fruit but with a polished, fine, velvety texture that's singularly Allemand. Complex, long, and grand. In a nice spot but will continue to open up and improve.
May 4, 2023 - Allemand Chaillot survey (Chicago, IL): It was a bit controversial at the table, but I personally found this to be drinking better than the 2010 tonight. That's not to say that this was the better wine, but just that it was far more open for business today. It's definitely a heart-on-its-sleeve edition with very ripe, plush fruit on both the nose and palate, and yet it never goes over the top. There's plenty of classic syrah notes here, and while others at the table found the alcohol sticking out a bit, I thought this wine, albeit very large-scaled, to be very much in balance. And despite all the fruit here, there's still that silky Allemand texture (which, really, was in all the wines tonight, but is repetitive for me to write).
September 20, 2022 - Leathery, gamy, dark fruit bouquet. A powerful Cornas. Lots of rich fruit with slightly herbal undertaste. Tannic aftertaste.
The whole thing is a little blunt and slightly unformed right now. Needs a lot of time to come together.
March 14, 2022 - Deep ruby color, a lovely mix of dried herbs, crushed fruit, and mild spice on the nose, Chaillot always seems to have more red fruit than Reynard, sometimes with a blueberry note. This vintage doesn't show that blueberry note, which is a good thing in my book, more deep raspberry/boysenberry, more of those dried herbs, hint of anise, relatively light on its feet for the vintage, showing medium full body at this point, with plenty of slightly chalky, gripping tannins, finishing with a complex mix of garrigue, dried herbs, anise. An early check in to see how the 2009 vintage is coming along, not a mistake to open, but still in need of several years to smooth out some of the structure, and start to show some tertiary development. Relatively restrained for a 2009.
May 19, 2021 - Thats amazing. Red fruit and super elegant.
September 14, 2020 - A 2009 Horizontal. I absolutely love Allemand’s wines. Always a seamless combination of both elegance and power. Both the Chaillot and Reynard showed perfectly, with the Reynard a bit more concentrated and deep than the Chaillot. Both wines had superb intensity, focus and a wonderful texture with the signature liquid rock, violets, herbs and cassis of Allemand Cornas. Fantastic duo.
September 3, 2020 - At Secchu Yokota. Courtesy of Jason, the nose on this is spectacular, and classic Allemand - a hint of strawberry, a hint of earth, all delicious. But man, the palate is a BEAST. Chaillot in my opinion is a lot more rustic and needs more time anyway, and 2009 northern Rhones need so much time. This will eventually come good given all the fruit, but it's a beast right now and not ready to play.
March 14, 2020 - Decanted 3-4 hours in advanvace. In the beginning hefty and deep Syrah aromas, with black olives, forest floor, butter and spices. Extremely rich and massively fruity, but also velvety and elegant. After a while, more like a Côte-Rotie on the nose. Classy!
March 7, 2020 - Deep purple, fragrant nose of dried herbs, soda, violets, mocha, earth, and black raspberry, racy acidity on the attack with sandy tannins, layers of punchy black fruit with a floral lift, finishes long and racy with layers of dark fruit, earth, black tea, cassis and much more - outstanding
October 8, 2019 - Allemand Survey (Sepia): A big, roasted and ripe Allemand. The nose is peppery and herby, but so rich and dense. The palate shows nice brightness and lift. At times it's almost tart, despite the big fruit. Really good length and precision. A complete wine, just needs another decade.