November 20, 2023 - Fabulous, the best La Chapelle ever made with 1961, 1962, 1964 and 1978
To buy only if you are very patient, LOL
December 16, 2022 - This wine is exceptional, even in its primary stage. It’s young in appearance, taste and feel but I didn’t think it was being consumed too early because it’s just so good. On opening, the wine was rough and brambly - tannic, rugged, even barbaric, but in a way that I knew it would be ready for dinner three hours later and likely be wonderful. Indeed. As we drank over the next hour it unfurled even more. Epic and elegant yet restrained. A still-subdued nose of black fruit, some sort of muskiness and chalky minerality. Sensuous mouth feel, delivering cool and restrained flavors that overtake the senses. Black fruit, smoky earth and blue flowers with tight tannin and a lovely band of minerality. The finish is where the wine really shows its class - within the first few seconds it trails off in a pleasing way but then acid reasserts itself and pushes the finish another thirty seconds of lingering wonder. No missteps, nothing even remotely discordant. This wine has everything and in ten years may even be perfect.
August 11, 2022 - Drank after 6 hours decanting in a blind battle with Le Meal 2009 of Chapoutier. Incredibly drinkable, no sharp edges, tannins are there but do not dry your mouth. Great wine. Drink or hold
January 21, 2022 - Very closed nose, very mineral, very dark… Very cold, tannic, dry, a bit austere, needs at least 5-10 years to develop!
March 22, 2021 - One Variety -- 3 Price-Points, Blind (Los Olivos, CA): Served blind in a flight of three of the same grape variety: one inexpensive, one, mid-range and one high-end. Easily our wine of the night, and my score may have been a bit stingy. I did not expect such an impressive showing at this early age. Concentrated dark fruit notes, ripe and well defined, with some smokiness, herbs and minerality. Sweet tannins. A wine of real finesse. I would love to be able to follow this bottling over time.
August 29, 2019 - Drank at Sherry Lehmann event. Beautiful but too young. Olives, blackberry, typical Rhône peppery spiciness. Needs 5 plus years to settle down. Delicate despite the weight. Will be a beauty in time.
October 27, 2018 - Rancid diesel socks nose for mad max to sniff. Beautifully horrible.
September 2, 2018 - 14.5% alcohol. I can see this being an absolute beauty in 5-30 years. Poured from the bottle over 2 days. The bottle finally began to show something on day 2; previous reviewers did a great job of describing what the wine will become. Don’t even bother opening this for at least 5+ years. I won’t open another bottle until at least 2025.
April 25, 2018 - So inky and unfathomably profound in shade, this wine may stain your stemware as well as your palate with its caliginous hue. With a decanter filled with crème de cassis, this full bodied, concentrated dream liquid fills your mouth and coats your palate while mesmerizing your senses for at least 60 seconds. The fruit bestows purity, intensity, length and precision. In its youth, it's intellectual; when it matures, it will be a hedonistic coup d’état. Is this the best vintage since 1990 or perhaps 1978? Yes! This is off the charts. If you you have the money, this is a wine to lay down. Once other people begin tasting this wine, and word gets out, it is only going to become more expensive.
March 31, 2018 - P. Jaboulet Aine - Hermitage la Chapelle 1995-2015: During a merchant tasting. Dark purple. Expressive nose of dark fruit, oak, vanilla, cake, blueberry, on the ripe side. Opulent, soft palate, structure is there. Very modern vinification here. A complete wine in the quality range of the 2012 but not up there with the 2010, at least from this first snapshot.