September 12, 2023 - Really singing at the top of its game with a smoky, aromatic profile made even better by its nuances of barbecue, smoked meat. licorice, spearmint, cherries, and plums, Grace, and power are at work here on the palate and in the dark red berry and spice-filled finish. Drink from 2023-2040.
February 25, 2023 - The most rustic one from lalala and has the most powerful palate. Thanks for its 100% syrah. At level likes this, it comes to which style you preferred.
December 17, 2022 - Holiday Champagne Gala (Park Ridge Country Club): In Guigal flight(s). Big and bold and ripe, lots of big, black flavors with power, but less aromatically forthcoming than previous bottles. Certainly very good, but the flight was simply dominated by Mouline 1989.
April 23, 2022 - I enjoyed this with a good friend for a belated celebration of our 40 birthdays. Drank it over the course of 3 hours with dinner at a nice French bistro. The wine is drinking really well right now. Powerful, yet incredibly elegant at the same time.
December 25, 2021 - Drank in Ireland
Fully mature with a wonderful complexity
March 30, 2021 - Two Rhônes Diverged in a Wood.... ("Chateau La Grange" - La Grange IL): Double(ish) blind in Northern Rhône flight. Rich, black fruit and black pepper jumped out of the glass, screaming ripe vintage Côte-Rôtie with faint hints of evolution. So much here, very good weight and length. My 2nd fav (of 10) in the flight, group's #1.
November 28, 2020 - In a good drinking window, the tannins quickly resolved after decanting and this bottle displayed all the expected intensity and power with dark, rich fruit and there was certainly an exotic quality to this wine.
October 25, 2020 - a spectacular bottle. Dense and very rich. Lots of fruit, so well integrated and fully mature now. Compared to the Chave 2003 this is so smooth. Absolutely gorgeous.
August 16, 2020 - Tasted blind, this wine had a deep red center with orange at the rim. The nose was maybe medium- intensity at first and opened up to medium+ intensity after 6 hours of air. It put forth notes of plum, black spices, cola, and minerals.
In the mouth, this wine was rich and ripe with rounded tannin, solid acidity, and great length. As usual, it was the least expressive of the 3 1990 LaLas.
This wine was less tough and tannic than I thought it might be given its reputation. It had a absolute ton of fruit which buried its structure. However, this wine was really not quite ready for prime time yet. It was still opening up after 8 hours in the decanter.
While certainly drinkable, this bottle was begging for another 5-10 years in the cellar. It could well have a couple points of upside as it becomes more expressive like the Mouline.
July 27, 2020 - Midwinter, 27 July, 2020 (Pokai Parera, Ekatahuna, New Zealand): A modern expression of a structured and dense Cote Rotie style. By far the most animal of the Lalas in this vintage. Huge oak adds a creamy note to the dark undergrowth, burnt rubber, and dense deep flavours and aromas of this great wine. In full maturity, but there is no hurry.