February 23, 2024 - Fresh, saline and spicy with delicious flavours of blackberry and liquorice. The initially firm tannins simply melt away to leave a really satisfying lingering sensation of black fruits, black chocolate and black pepper. A nicely weighted and succulent medium red with totally the right balance of fruit, acidity and tannins. It doesn’t have to shout it just kept delivering fascination and interest with every sip and combined superbly with slow-cooked lamb shanks. Alas my first bottle was corked but fortunately this second really lived up to its promise. CHP 93 pts .
February 21, 2024 - Another bottle with unwanted bacteria
February 3, 2024 - As others have mentioned, this is an olive-forward year. Where Clape often reminds me of the black cured variety (very salty, and wonderful), Gonon is greener--rich savory Picholine flesh. The fatty finish is pure tapenade, and lingers deliciously.
Elsewhere there's pepper bacon, tart cherry, and a burnt bouquet of spices and herbs, especially thyme. The mouthfeel is almost all savory, like biting into a burger.
As the wine opens, the savory hints sweeten and fruit emerges. Don't miss it at the 90 minute mark, where it achieves a beautiful balance. At its peak, this is like a backyard journey through summer's fragrant bushes, ripe plums, pressed olives, and bbqs, all washed in a dusty, leathery dryness. This is my first Gonon; I'm sure there will be many more.
November 18, 2023 - Poured next to the 2011 and a dramatic contrast to that vintage's fruit sweetness. Here the scent is pure olive juice. It's in a similar weight class but the stuffing is mostly coming from the non-fruit world. Toss it around a little bit and it bursts with an aftershock of additional flavors drawing on something mealy or wheaty. The bottle was a little controversial but this is what Gonon is all about. Albeit with the olive equalizer dial cranked way up.
November 11, 2023 - Compared to the '15 and '17 this is lighter, more open, nice olives, blackberry, some earth. Integrated tannins and good acidity; would drink this now!
November 10, 2023 - Gonon tasting; 11/10/2023-12/10/2023 (Utregs Wijnhuis, Utrecht, NL): This is drinking brilliantly now! Fire stone, forest floor, mushrooms, black fruit. Great balance. Medium+ acidity, medium+ tannins, long finish.
October 27, 2023 - Northern Rhone Dinner (2012/2005/1998 focus) (Chez Lagragne): Single blind. The most intensely meaty florals of the flight. On the palate, I also picked up more overt meat / bacon notes with some florals. Felt the most evolved of the flight, but still a decade short of maturity. My #3/5. Guessed Jamet because of the bacony note.
October 27, 2023 - (Mostly) 1998, 2005, 2012 Northern Rhône (Chicago, IL): Served single blind. Very savoury and another wine that was relatively lighter in texture. Modest, but mostly resolved tannins, with much less emphasis on the backend weight (unlike the final wine). Red-fruited and delicate; for my palate quite approachable and drinkable now. Thinking back to the 2012 Jamet I had a year and a half ago, I guessed this was the Jamet.
August 12, 2023 - Same bottle as Derek. Lots of whole cluster, dark berries. Nice wine but in my eyes neither especially complex nor traditional. Personally would prefer some more restraint on the whole clusters to allow for more balance and complexity to emerge.
August 11, 2023 - Two 2012s showed up telepathically at the table. One was flourishing hard - dishing out generous doses of floral violets, black olives and strawberries on the nose,while finishing off with tangy acid and powdery tannins in the mouth. This is exactly the kinda Gonon that turn heads, just so flavourful and provoking. You can’t ask for more from the bottle and vintage.
The other one was confusing. Restrained, with the fruits relatively muted and darker. If you dig a little, yes the Gonon DNA is there. Dumb phase? Not sure how much storage conditions contributed here but it should show with more oxygen.