January 9, 2022 - Corked.
October 29, 2016 - Delicious and not maderized. Brownish gold, akin to an aged Sauterne. Decanted and drank over 2 hours. Nose of beeswax, honeysuckle, caramelized apples and molten rock. On the palate rich and fat, great acidity and minerality, medium bodied, nice dry finish and no sweetness at all. Excellent.
June 21, 2016 - Sourced from the caves of Chapoutier in Thain-Ermitage.
Unfortunately this is a bad wine and time has taken its toll. The say when they age the become unpredictable, close and open , become special etc etc. To our opinion and experience of trying quite a few of these wines from CdP blanc to Northern Rhone these wines are best tried relatively young and fresh. We have one more bottle of this and we doubt it will be any better. I hope we are proven wrong. 75
April 22, 2016 - Wine was madeirased unfortunately. What a shame
November 29, 2015 - Best bottle I've had of this wonderful luscious wine. Dark golden yellow, decanted and aerated and drank over an hour. Simply wonderfully balanced, sweet nose of honeycomb, rocks, apricots, marzipan, popcorn whilst buttery and fat on the palate, no sweetness or maderization. Medium to full bodied, nice long velvety finish. Amazing bottle!
March 22, 2015 - Duration: 3 hours
Food: Salmon, steak
Aroma: honeysuckle, pear, red date, hint of Flintstone
Note: I've had a 1994 last month and this delivers pretty consistent feeling with the 94, opens with a floral aroma following hints of Flintstone and some citrus on the palate. With an amazingly long aftertaste that is both thick and sweet, this wine could match any oily and greasy food but at the same time could also pair well with decent and carefully prepared French food. I've always liked Chapoutier's whites, especially aged ones that gives just the right level of sophistication yet never too full bodied.
March 2, 2015 - See previous notes. This wine can really pair with any food.
January 4, 2015 - Slightly less pristine bottle than the last one. Decanted and drank over two hours+. Did not chill post decanting and should have a bit. Deep golden color, apricots, honeysuckle on the nose along with minerals and stone. Luscious entry on the palate, fat and rich mid palate and a nice vibrant finish for this delightful full bodied wine. Hope the next bottle is better and will try to preserve the temperature at around 13 degrees next time.
December 20, 2014 - Flabbergasting. Deep golden color, decanted and put the decanter in a bucket filled with cold water to preserve the best drinking temperature. On the nose honeysuckle, stones, dried apricots, stone and minerals. What a complex wine that pairs with a variety of foods. Excellent fat entry on the palate, great structured this is a stunner mid palate almost viscous in density, full bodied, multi layered, and an excellent finish, no sweetness just pure bliss with stones and minerals dominating. My kind of wine.
June 27, 2014 - Finally we get a great bottle. Needed like 1 hour of decanting and it has to be served chilled but not cold (Made a big difference) . Definitely one needs to like the style. We have tried this before with average results but this Magnum tonight performed at par to the hype. The notion that the wine goes to sleep and resurfaces post 5-7yrs (Chapoutier supports the theory too) seems to hold true. Well secondary fruit, rich apricot, mineral wine. Open and well developed, the fresh feel is gone but still the wine is alive and vibrant. That characteristic marsanne bitterness is still there and the wine seems to have a lot of life ahead of it. Andreas 94 / Nicoletta 96 so 95. Gladly we have 2 more bottles!