WCC Syrah from around the world tasting (Clifton Park, NY): I've had some hit and miss experiences with various La Chapelles, but this was very much a hit. Lovely wine - quite mature, with red fruits, earth, a sauvage meaty character, and more savoury brothy notes coming together seamlessly on a medium weight palate. There's a faintly roasted tinge to the aromas here and it still feels a touch blocky and tannic on the back end, but the overall package is lovely to sit down with and explore with a bit of air.
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Rhône or Nôwhere 2.0 (Malcolm, NE): The fruit for "La Chapelle" is sourced predominantly from Le Méal and Bessards (with a little form Greffieux and Rocoules. Relative to the two Chave’s, the 1988 “La Chapelle” seems a bit more like a Hermitage fastball right down the middle of the plate. Desiccated mixed berries, olives, purple flowers, and minerals with a touch of ethyl acetate. Again a great pairing with grilled lamb and Moroccan spices. Vinous and drinking well now through 2035. Merci Matt!
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Medium deep brick red. Aromas of cassis, blackberry jam, charcuterie, truffle, hawthorn and pine needle. Dry sanded tannins. Blackcurrant acids and walnut bitterness. Medium body. Palate of blackcurrant jam, chocolate, juniper wood, black tea, rosemary and grilled meat. A rustic, well-balanced and classical hermitage with black jammy fruit, typical meaty aromas and long, vital and elegant finish. Drink within 5-10 years. Tasted 2024. Tasted alongside Pichon Baron 1988 and the present wine was as powerful, complex and tasty as the matched wine if not better.
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Anniversaire d'un grand ami.Robe évoluée.Bouquet de moyenne intensité due peut-être à une absence de décantation ???? Arômes d'herbes,épices mais pas de côté fumé,d'olives noires habituels marqueurs de la syrah.La bouche est d'un autre niveau:puissance,structure,pas de creux et grande longueur finale.Cette cuvée n'a pas vraiment dit son dernier mot mais une décantation de 2 heures s'impose à mon sens.
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Full-bodied, firm, classic, and slightly rustic, the meaty, dark, earthy fruits are accompanied by tobacco, earth, pepper, green olives, and herbs. The wine softened a bit with air, but it is fully ready to go. Drink from 2023-2035.
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Another of DT's bottles, this time served in Bristol. The wine had been decanted early and on this occasion showed a very evolved palate and not really much trace of black fruits.
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A cellar stored bottle direct from Jaboulet. Subdued nose, but quite full, rich, round, and balanced but for a lean toward tart. Lighter weight than the ‘85 and ‘82 in this flight, maybe not as rich or dense, but still with excellent minerality and acidity. Drink up, preferably w steak tartare or carpaccio, with lots of black pepper.
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Sea, Feather and Land (New Jersey): In my cellar since release, decanted at 4:15pm and served beside 2002 Penfolds Grange with Shane’s Duck breast with black eyed peas and duck foie gras At 8pm. I viewed them as tied though others thought the Grange was WOTN. This was medium, translucent garnet with just a hint of bricking. The nose was very fragrant with earthy leather, meat and sous bois. Palate was smokey with bacon, tar and dark red fruit. Finish was long to very long and oh so elegant. Balanced and still surprisingly energetic, I thought it elevated the food and vice versa. Lovely wine from a vintage that some under-rate and seems to be prone to some bottle variation or something given what I read from others. For future reference this is fully mature and probably best with a 2 hour decant…drink up and enjoy with some duck!
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January Rhônes (Chicago, IL): From magnum. The best of the Chapelles opened tonight. Red berries and elegance, but with that typical Jaboulet blockiness that really detracts from the overall enjoyment of the wine. Moderately complex, but this mostly feels too tannic for any further enjoyment right now. Whether this becomes a beauty the way Chave's does isn't really a question up for debate here: no. This feels like a wine that's just going to dry out. But for now, this is adequate and reasonably representative of the state of Hermitage.
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Very pretty nose: mature berry fruit with herbs and leather. Mint. Mid-weight on the palate, fruit fading a bit and acidity to the fore. Similarly on the finish, but the fruit is still there and it’s quite long. Really lovely, the aromatic character of this is particularly appealing.
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I forgot how good old 1980’s la chapelle’s are. The lovely dry prune and raisin flavours with tertiary truffles and earth. Delicious. This is just starting to dry out and is not as long as I would like.
From a magnum - Robe grenat avec une frange d’évolution. Le nez est aromatique : thym, olive noire, cuir, prune, cerise noire, touche de violette, réglisse-tabac. La bouche est agréable, fluide, bien équilibrée, plus bourguignonne que sudiste. Le corps est moyen, les tanins plutôt bien patinés, la finale réglissée et fruitée. Quel beau vin malgré ses 33 ans. Garnet color with an evolution fringe. The nose is aromatic: thyme, black olive, leather, plum, black cherry, touch of violet. The palate is pleasant, fluid, well balanced, more Burgundy than southern. The body is medium, the tannins quite well patinated, the liquorice and fruity finish. What a beautiful wine despite its 33 years.
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Another bottle of the 1988 Jaboutlet La Chappelle, but from a different provenance. Dead on Arrival, no trace of northern Rhone character, or of any character suggesting a finer wine. Indistinguishable from a $15-20 generic New World wine. That said, also no overt expression of oxidation, ullage, or TCA, so I am guessing this just did not make it to 33 years because of storage at least than ideal (very cool) temperatures. The contrast with the earlier pristine bottle could not have been more dramatic.
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A generous offering from DT alongside a 1990 Beaucastel! This wine was more obviously grape derived than the extraordinarily evolved Beaucastel. It was beautifully rounded and still showing black fruits. Fully mature and possibly in a very graceful phase of decline but still a delight. It didn't quite seem to evolve in the glass as much as I expected but still a special experience. I'd be surprised if any but the best cellared bottles would improve but plenty to enjoy for a few years yet.
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First bottle was beautifully nuanced, elegant, almost Burgundian in its complex expression of red fruit (seeming to have started life as much darker), with gradually emerging notes of sage and thyme as the it evolves in the glass. In short, a classic expression of northern Rhone Syrah. This shows a roasted meat note, with just the suggestion of surmaturite one might expect from a Syrah, but overall the balance is remarkable.
Moderately translucent and rather evolved pomegranate red color with a thin, colorless rim. Savory, evolved and slightly pungent nose with slightly tertiary aromas of smoke, wizened forest fruits, some gamey tones, a little bit of tobacco, light nuances of kalamata olives and a hint of beef jerky. The wine is quite ripe and silky yet also dry and moderately grippy on the palate with a rather full body and savory flavors of charred game and meaty umami, some wizened dark fruits, a little bit of beef jerky, light notes of earthy garrigue or dried Provencal herbs, a hint of stony minerality and a touch of tart red berries. The overall balance is right on point, thanks to the rather high acidity and proportionate, somewhat grippy medium tannins. The finish is long, dry and somewhat grippy with savory flavors of wizened blackberries, some savory leather tones, a little bit of tar, light stony mineral tones, evolved hints of beef jerky and tobacco and a crunchy touch of tart lingonberries.
A very lovely Hermitage at its peak or inching beyond it. The overall feel is quite tertiary with an obviously aged character, but the wine is still very nuanced, structured and very much alive - not really going downhill yet. However, it is very hard to pinpoint where the wine is from (although, in retrospect, I should've picked up those hints from the notes of olive and game...) but I really don't mind as the wine is drinking so well right now. My guess was a Tuscan red at or around 30 years of age. Well, I got the country completely wrong, but at least I was right on point with the age. I can imagine this might've been slightly better some years ago, and it won't benefit from any further aging, but I doubt it is going to fall apart within the next few years. Drink now or in the near future. A lovely old Syrah.
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Family arrives for Pre-Christmas visit (Wanaka Wedge House, Queensberry, Central Otago, New Zealand): Extraordinary Hermitage drunk at full maturity. Essence of bacon fat, undergrowth, dried rose, smoke, dried raspberry on the nose. In the mouth, close to fully resolved, very tertiary, but still with a beautiful core of fruit, and a sense of structure that elevates this wine into a very great example of the marque. This feels like on the the last old-school La Chapelles to me - certainly the 89, and the profound 90 feel more modern.
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Probably my favourite bottle so far. Drank alongside a 1990 in a mini vertical and this held its own. Slightly lighter and more aged in the glass, with delightful barnyard and dirt on the nose, all wrapped within meat and game. This was elegant and balanced. In a perfect spot to drink now, as I don't think it will improve, but clearly no rush for well stored bottles.
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Two bottles with NY strip. What great wine! Both bottles fantastic. Medium ruby/garnet, lovely nose of berries and orange peel with a little leather. Lively acidity, cherries and orange, ripe plum and pepper. Excellent mature Hermitage.
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"Mr. & Mrs. White" Anniversary Dinner (Friends' Rooftop, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong): Not decanted...no need. Opaque deep bright jewelled black/ruby colour just turning transparent at the rim edge. Nose is gosh... immediately captivating garrique, deep black plum, really fresh, alive and open, hints of liquorice root, star anise, blackberries in the background. Palate is bright acidity, crisp blackberry fruit, bright tannins with super structure, high acidity but in a freshness enhancing way. Really elegant and fully mature but this bottle had years of life ahead of it. Medium weight and resonant reverberence inside the head on the finish but so long and elegant. My last and absolutely my best bottle from a case of 12. Adieu. 94+
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Slightly protruding cork that was soaked 3/4 through and broke in half upon removal. Lots of fine sediment in the bottle. Fully mature garnet colour that is still quite deep and fades to a tawny port at the rim. Nose is subdued and primarily leathery and tart red fruits. Also some notes of brined black olives, mushroom, forest floor and charred wood. The palate is medium weight, very smooth and tart - bordering on sour. Interesting notes of dried red fruit, sour cherry, cured black olives, mulch, strong black tea and mushrooms. Moderately high acidity. Long, smooth finish that is mostly light red fruit and leather. Very interesting. Perhaps a bit past its prime but still very pleasant.
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My second time of having this, and this was a much better bottle. Still purple to Ruby in the glass and surprisingly dark. Meat, bacon, barnyard, game. Absolutely classic Northern Rhone. Layered to complex. This is balanced and ready to drink now. Served blind to VO at her birthday
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At peak maturity, the wine has good concentration, ripe, stony, red fruits, pepper, smoke and herbs. There is a nice bite and freshness to the juicy fruits with plenty of peppery berries on the nose and palate. This is drinking in the right place today.
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Surprisingly medium light hue, gamely, funky, soya sauce, mature nose but with plenty of fruits, a lovely Hermitage, very elegant on the palate, drank with the 88 Comte Senard Corton Clos du Roi, both very good, an interesting comparison
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Quite light in the glass upon pouring, then seemingly becomes darker and darker. Initial notes of perfume, then delivers classic notes of meat and game, before massively becoming coffee and oxo beef stock cubes. Really adds weight with air.
Still has years left.
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Fine Wines SG - Best of Rhone Valley Grand Cru Tasting (Fine Wines SG): A clear, pretty tint of ruby red, which is surprising for its age. A heady nose which combined rose, lillies, redcurrant, leaves, wood, leather, smoked meats. Still some tannin structure, and very juicy, and remiscent of having a chargrilled steak, roasted greens,and sour cherry. Undertone of breads, which lingered to the end with the smokes and grass
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Chateauneuf and Hermitage: Pop and pour. This was a little more red-fruited than I expected. It is very much a cool climate Syrah and true to Hermitage typicity. There were berries and meat.
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Monthly Tasting Group: Older CDP's and Northern Rhones (P.S. Steak, Mpls): Very dark red color. PNP, drank a glass plus over an hour plus. This was a classic, first class example of mature Hermitage. Spot on, graphite, dark berries, black and blue, meat, blood, bacon fat, soft and textured, smoky, cassis, white pepper. Beautiful. Another mature wine with miles to go though. Drank next to the kid brother '95 which was considerably more youthful.
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Fabulous btl tonight and a depth, last minute switcheroo by Dave D to pair with Steve P.s '95 Chappelle. Thanks Dave!! Fully resolved and an utterly classic example of Hermitage. Bacon, red & blue fruit, iron, mineral, underbrush, mushroom. This is endlessly deep and intriguing. Loved it! Best ofall, I believe this sourced down the road from release and still shined! Steve Ps '95 was also fun and classic but a bit less fully realized and in need of more time.
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CDV Un Nez rhodanien (nord), fumé, lardé et végétal qui évoque la vieille syrah, avec ses notes qui poivronnent presque, ce petit goût de légume (comme chez Graillot). En bouche, le vin est somme toute assez léger (le temps a fait son oeuvre) et parait trop monolithique, un rien fadasse comparé au superbe Grandes Places 1998 de Gérin bu à ses côtés. Plaisant certes, mais pas magique. A boire
Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle Dinner (1978, '82, '83, '85, '88, '90, '95, '97, '98, '99, 09) (Taberna, Bukit Merah): Pretty good, with a major "but". I have had this numerous times blind over the years, and it has impressed without fail. This particular bottle was behind the curve though - I found it less enjoyable than either the 1982 or the 1985 in the same flight, and certainly less impressive than the bottles I have had in the past. It had the meatiest nose of the lot, showing whiffs of bacon and roasted meat along with deep blueberry aromas and pockets of spice and violets. It was a powerful, quite arresting bouquet. The palate was really yummy as well, with firm but refined tannins and bright acidity, fine flavours of blueberries and spice, a bit of minerality, all this wed to a subtle earth and meat savouriness moving into a decent finish. Unfortunately, it was not quite as complete as previous examples I had, nor indeed when compared with either the 1982 or the 1985 - this came across a bit thinner and less giving. Pretty enjoyable in its on way, but not firing on all cylinders.
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Five Vintages of Jaboulet La Chapelle (Sonoita, AZ): This wine was almost everyone’s favorite in the group. Not as intense as the 1986, with more fruit on the nose and palate. Even softer, with medium minus tannin and medium acidity. This wine was missing the bigger mouth-feel of the '86 vintage and did not have enough tannin left to provide a good sense of structure. Not quite as balanced and the finish was a bit shorter. Don’t get me wrong, this was a fabulous wine too and I would drink it every day if I had an unlimited supply, but in a world class sense, just a step under the 1986.
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Transparent garnet with an orange hue, lots of sediments Double decanted to remove sediments Nose of dust, funky plum and sour cherries from the bottle Faint aroma of pepper, beef, coffee and leather emerges with 30 minutes in glass Strong but pleasant acidity, mellow and mature tannin, good saline minerality
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Acker Auction & Commanderie des Costes du Rhone (Zuma & Racines): Very nice wine that at times reminds me of a bordeaux. Maybe this isn't the best year, but I actually really enjoy this one. It's well aged and in a good spot at the moment. Time to drink I think.
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Tasted blind, this wine had red/purple center with red rims. The medium intensity nose showed plum, mild black spices, and blackberries.
In the mouth, this wine was still young. It was ripe but still a bit tight. It had rounded tannin and very good length.
This wine is a powerhouse. If you need to drink this now, I would give it at least 8 hours in a decanter. My guess is that it will pick up a couple points in 10 years.
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At dinner last night - unfortunately, I have a very bad cold, so this is more of an impression than a TN, although all three of the other attendees really liked the wine. Nicely mature and medium-bodied, with good persistence. From a case bought on release, and I didn't see any fall off throughout the meal. Probably Drink or Hold.
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not a good performance, lots of particulate sediment, very dark in color, nose pretty nice -- was dirty, dark and musky but with some black and blue fruit too, maybe florals in the background, but I judge the juice more by the palate and this is dull, dark, brooding, could coax any fruit out of it, rustic and yet acidic... not nearly as good as my prior bottles
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10th of 12, opened 40 minutes, perfect level, travel half up cork, older and amber rimmed, but more harmonious and complex than my July 16 bottle/note, dry tannins on finish resolved in favour of velvet and caramel flavours, very attractive on nose and palate and with admirable persistence, now fully mature and best drunk over next 5 to 10 years. VF (18.5).
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Warm brownish red color with orange tinge. Earthy, multi-facetted nose; leather, garrigue, thyme and sun-scorched soil in Provence.. Ripe tannins, nicely integrated; bit of lovage, too. On the palate it is round and mature; well balanced with a firm backbone of tannin. The wine is fully ripe and ready, drinking extremely well. Should hold up for a while. A great experience.
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brick red, just a hint of orange - nose initially closed but with time opened with plum fruit and smokey meat undertones - full rich mouth with beautiful acid-tannin-fruit balance - moderately long finish - drinking beautifully with food now, but has the intensity and balance to last another decade easily
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Double decanted 2-3 hours before drinking. A good bottle of this, certainly: quite rich blackcurrant with red fruit hints, notes of leather, smoke and pronounced grilled/BBQ meat. Drinking nicely but also still a little tight on the finish - no rush on these, good to have plenty more ****(1/2)
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Difficult to fairly evaluate this wine. Tasted side by side with a '97 Chapoutier Le Meal and a '96 Guigal La Mouline, the Chapelle seemed a bit dull. Color was opaque but maybe a shade lighter than the other two wines. Couldn't get much on the nose, but the palate was velvety with fresh red plums. Oldest Chapelle I've tasted. Drink sooner than later.
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Briefly decanted shortly after a 13-hour flight from Hong Kong. Bright, translucent red plum colour. Lovely nose of plums, damp earth, pine woods and Asian spice powder. Palate is fresh and bright.....much more so than any of my previous 10 bottles from the case. Lots of red and black plum fruit. Rounded, almost velvet, texture. Hints of autumn on the back palate. Some resonance and length on the finish. I really enjoyed this and great to share with our friends on a very frosty night in the Cambridgeshire fens. I really recommend drinking this up soon because too many bottles are a lot more autumnal than this one was.
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Acker Holiday Auction (A Voce Madison): Opened and decanted. Really excellent. In contention for WOTN for me. It's beautiful. Wine tastes young. Lots of fruit - plum, currants, hints of spice. Came back to it again and again throughout the evening.
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In my cellar reside the '88, '89, & La Chapelles. This bottle was the first that seemed tired. Brownish on the rim and much of the fruit gone. Still a good nose and pleasant drink.
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Hermitage La Chapelle & Grange (10 Greek Street, London): Quite a dusty, deep nose. The blood and iron needs a little coaxing. Some green olive too. Quite dry and savoury with the olive coming through on the palate. Very smooth and mellow finish. Fruit recedes with air, on this bottle at least, lovely but drink up. ****
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Decanted for 30 mins or so. Mid to dark red in the glass, some aging at the rim. Glorious nose initially still quite primary blackcurrant and dark cherry, but quickly revealing notes of leather, roasted meat, spice and gamey hints; the palate was quite intense and rich with largely resolved tannins. The wine became a little more savoury with dried blood hints across two hours but overall it seemed at a glorious peak. I still think this vintage is underappreciated - this bottle was great and materially better than my last one ****1/2+
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9th of 12, decanted an hour, perfect cork and level, previous notes from 2000 very good to very fine - deep translucent red, brown rim; attractive nuanced bouquet, smoked bacon, truffle and plum/black cherry with a touch of earth and spice; fullish, long and persistent, quality nuanced fruit, very fine structure and balance, tad dry on exit, fully mature. VF (18.5).
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Ex chateau. Nose had flowers, soil, mixed berries and some red fruit with a burgundian style. Palate was on the rustic side with more black fruit and plums. I thought it was an aged nebbiolo. It was overall enjoyable but it lacked an edge to rate this higher.
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Ruby with bricking to the color, the wine offers cherry, thyme, underbrush, charcoal, smoke, spice and earthy aromas. Full bodied, concentrated, long, fresh and straddling the fence of elegance and rusticity, the wine leaves you with a complex mouthful of blackberry, cherry griotte, cassis, spice and green olives. Decanted about 30 minutes before tasting.
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I love when a wine is aromatic the moment it's splashed into the decanter. Showing some age, not nearly its almost 28 years worth of sleeping, the wine shows off its cassis, truffle, bacon fat, floral, earth and black cherry aromatics with ease. Full bodied, deep, lusty, rich and satisfying, the gorgeous mouthful of spicy black cherry and earth tastes and feels great. For a wine of this quality, style and level of maturity, it's a steal in today's marketplace. If you have a bottle, pop a cork. If it's well stored, it could improve, or at least remain at this level for another decade or two. But there is no reason to hesitate on this beauty.
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A majestic wine, this really brings to mind the words of George Saintsbury, it is truly a manly wine, of there ever was one. Rich, broad, but restrained and cool. Will live on, but on a plateau, I think
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Northern Rhone Night (Boca, Bukit Pasoh, Singapore): Third time I have had this wine blind, and I have been blown away every time. This had a beautiful nose. Somehow forward and expressive, yet keeping a certain reserve at the same time, it showed a nice backdrop of wet earth and broiled meat underlying more aromatic notes of bluberries and violets and spice. Deep and insistent, yet with a lovely, subtle sense of nuance. The same could be said about the palate. Full, generous, yet impeccably balanced and beautifully structured, it had all the depth that the nose promised, with mouthfilling flavours of blueberries and plums and cassis wrapped around a lovely spicy, core, yet also showing a noble structure of fine-boned tannins and wonderfully bright, juicy acidity that stretched the wine into a compellingly long finish, where blueberries, mineral and spice wound their leisurely way through the backpalate. Very complete, and very good indeed, this was a drinking beautifully now.
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Year 3: Super Tastings Round 1 of 5; Dave Does Birth Year Wines (Dave's House): Popped and poured, followed approximately 2 hours. Garnet in the glass, with a very slight brick. On the nose, this takes on a slightly darker and more animal profile than the '85; a melange of black fruit; blackcurrant, blackberry, black cherry; black olive brine, wet dog fur, espresso roast coffee, leather, bacon fat and camp fire. On the palate, this shows a touch more depth and concentration than the '85, as well as a bit more structure present. There is still some unresolved tannin that ever so slightly dries the moderate plus finish. Fully mature; drink now.
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Year 3 - Super Tasting 1 of 5 - Dave does Birth Year Wines: This pours a touch darker than the 85 la chapelle with medium plus bricking. The nose is neck and neck, showing a bit younger and darker. The nose is of black olive, leather, a slight metallic edge, saline, amaro liquor, cola, root beer, dark cherry and black currants. I do get some elevated alcohol on the finish along with all the dark fruit and spice of the nose. Lovely wine.
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Deep ruby red, slightly lighter rim. Very fragrant sweet ripe red berries, with just a subtle dark inky spice. Light to medium weight, elegant and silky. Poised and very well balanced. Soft red berries, plums and raspberries, a very fine vein of darker licorice and inky spice. Beautiful structure, closes with fine acidity and soft very fine tannins. Gracefully aged, developed characters are refined and still very secondary.
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This bottle was certainly past its prime. Smokey aromas and flavors predominated in a wine bereft of fruit. Overall dull and astringent, this bottle did not show the full potential of this wine. Perhaps there are better extant examples, but this was directionally consistent with bottles that I have had in recent years.
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First time I've ever had the 88, and this wine really spoke to me. Better than the 89 and 90 for my tastes, which I have have had a lot of. We were drinking blind, and it took us all a while to narrow this down. I loved it.
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Drunk at home with venison. Decanted for around an hour by the time we ate. Ever-changing nose (also varying in intensity) of leather with hints of blackcurrant, cherry liqueur, herbs and undergrowth. The palate was stunning and intense - semi-sweet fruit, leather, meat, garrigue and a beautiful note of Asian soy which I remember from the last bottle. Becoming a bit more savoury over time. Tannins are essentially resolved and the mouthfeel is silky and layered. This is a feminine La Chapelle (in contrast to the 83 for example) and for me is beautiful Hermitage. Probably drink over the next 3 years but not essential. ***1/2-**** (nose) / ****1/2 (palate)
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Drank straight from the cellar with no decanting. Completely opaque purple-crimson colour with the merest water at the meiniscus. Nose of iron, lots of game, blood, black and red berries, high piano notes, tart redcurrants, fresh pomegranate….a really mesmerising nose. Similar palate in a tight, compact, confited form with more plum and fresh pomegranate than the nose and some impressive linearity and preciseness. Developed a distinctly savoury, meaty black Chinese mushroom element with more time in the glass. Good resonance and length with a light but very long reverberance inside the head on the finish like a long, high piano note. An elegant wine. Excellent……much to enjoy here but it definitely needs drinking up as the fruit is fading fast, especially with extended time in the glass. I shall drink my remaining bottles within the next 6-12 months.
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Ruby-jewel translucent colour. Nose is.....gosh, fresh-rained red soil, high piano notes of freshly-applied nail varnish, very high-toned, almost 'resonant' on the nose.....very fumey. Palate is fresh, great acidic attach, lots of tannin still. Mounting after-resonance long after the finish - an almost everlasting finale. Much more tart than the previous two bottles drank from this case - but heady like a Barolo. Got better with time but still kept rather thin and was disappointing compared to the previous two occasions, where it really sang.
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Sunday Dinner (The Library, Crown Wine Cellars, Hong Kong): Semi transparent brightly jeweled lambs blood colour. Nose is gourgeously silkily seductive red fruits and red fruit compote, horse stables, wet gun dog fur. Palate is amazingly fresh and alive, vibrant, lots of red currents and blueberries. Quite tannic but gives it great structure. Feminine, not muscular. Very layered and light....like rose water. Lovely light but long resonance. Compelling. Mesmerizing. Absolutely at its peak drinking window. Just short of silence-creating.
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Tasted blind, this wine had a red/purple center with oranging rims. The medium+ intensity nose of cherries, roasted meat, and red soil was nice.
In the mouth, this was medium bodied with great balance and medium length. This still tastes a bit young and could have some upside versus my score. It will easily last 10+ years.
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decided to try my new Coravin opener on this bottle, took out one large glass, fantastic right out of the gate, nose is strawberry, bacon on the griddle and herbs, palate is big fruit on attack and mid palate with plenty of acid to balance, tons of smoke too, finish is long with lots of perfume / floral notes… will add later if changed
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Lovely nose of barnyard, leather, smoke, mocha java coffee, and spice, more of the same on the palate, little dry on the palate, not quite as good as the nose, medium/big body, velvety taste, long finish. My second place of 4 Rhones tasted, two first place votes.
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Sadly, my final bottle of this. The previous one with Reptibark showed better than this one. Agree with his and Leve's descriptions and assessments below. Stood bottle for 24 hrs, then double decanted, poured and served by itself. Initial brief funk blew off and its character was revealed: fully mature, gamey, complex Hermitage. Drink up!
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Just starting to brink at the edge. Nose was complex and kept changing - started with tobacco, tea leave and savory note, followed by tons of fruit, white pepper, mushroom and preserved plum. Palate was still youthful with loads of fruit and spice. Still has some grip towards a long, spicy finish.
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Angela's Belated Birthday Dinner (Crown Wine Cellars, 18 Deep Water Bay Drive, Shouson Hill, Hong Kong): Opened but not decanted for 4 hours before serving and then drank over 2 hours with French cheeses. Deep, translucent plum-red colour. Nose is plush, white chocolate, beef blood, coffee grounds, increasingly rich white chocolate....hedonistic and alluring...wow! Palate is initially coffee grounds mixed with white chocolate, lots of spice in the fresh-ground nutmeg spectrum. Very heady but rounded. Fully mature. Muscular and masculine but somehow in touch with its feminine side. Wonderful and is clearly drinking at its peak. I'm very impressed. Rich, plummy, unctuous plums come out with a lot of time in the glass. Good length and a final resonance of beef broth. The first of a case we bought recently for near-term drinking...very happy with it.
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Opened with aromas of roasted meat and nuts, garrigue, dried black plum and cherry. As it developed, a beautiful leathery note presented itself, mixing with loamy soil and peppercorn. The finish was lengthy and gentle, but still retained enough acidity to stay clean. As the wine evolved in my glass, it actually became a bit riper in fruit but the ever-present leather and soil notes were great foils.
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My first experience with a La Chapelle and I can't wait for another. It was a touch closed at first sniff, and I was a bit distracted, so I put it aside for a few hours. Periodically I'd go back to it and I think it was hour three that seemed the most magical. I got a lot of soy, terriyaki, mint, black fruit and soft tannins. I don't think it has a long life ahead so if you've got any, start drinking. And enjoying.
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Chainthroer was right :) Indeed I had high expectations, and this almost lived up to all of them. My very first La Chapelle, and it was lovely. Stood upright for over an hour, then PnP fr 750ml. First few minutes was overly tart with cherry and candy; that blew off within minutes. Garnet color, fading a touch (2mm miniscus). Slightly muted nose, but plenty there on the palate: fresh berry with a hint of cocoa and baking spice. Medium-plus finish. Just an all-around well-rounded drink at this age. NB: the glass I set aside for 5 hours after the initial pour was arguably the best of the bunch.
This is fully mature and clearly not one of the best vintages of this wine, but still alive and neat with food. Medium bodied, mouth watering acid and soft tannins, but maybe lacking some concentration. Iron, meat gravy and soy notes on the palate. Drink it soon.
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This magnificent Hermitage is as rugged as it is seductive, combining liquorice allsorts, sweet red fruits, undergrowth and menthol in one entirely complete mouthful. The structure is firm but relaxed, allowing the bucolic flavours to mingle viscerally before a pure, unmistakeable note of tobacco rings out on the grainy finish. Very long, complex and effortless. Wonderful stuff.
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Wet earth, rocks, cherry griotte, spice, charcoal, licorice, raspberry jam and fresh Provencal herbs create the aromatics. Soft, fleshy, mineral driven and filled with sweet cherries and iron in the finish. There is a touch of austerity, but that does not detract from the pleasure. This is mature and while there is no hurry to drink it, it might not have a lot of room for improvement.
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A Weekend in Excess; 1/20/2012-1/21/2012 (Trondheim, Norway): Spicy with some mint, slightly floral; warm fruit, more spices in the mouth, round and pleasing. Lacking a bit in length, should have been more focused, fades in the glass. Not an optimal bottle.
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Opened an hour prior. Decanted for 15-30 minutes. Immaculate cork. N: Tremendous, earth, smoke, red meat, leather. P: Palate follows similar to nose, with an impressive ferrous bloody taste, some red fruit, a slight touch of meatiness. An absolutely grand wine, and a personal highlight of the past few years. I adored the elegance combined with the fur/animal element that was very present on the palate.
Had over amazing osso bucco. Outstanding wine, 13% abv. Still plenty of life left.
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Wonderful wine in early to mid maturity. Intense liqueur-like nose of pure black fruits - currants, berries and doris plums. Classic Hermitage nose of saddle leather, smoke, minerals and undergrowth. In the mouth medium to full body with a firm structure and mass which is kept lithe due to the acid balance. The tannins are front of mouth fruit tannins that come across as grippy fresh fennel flavours. The last of the old-school La Chapelles. This is not a modern, oaked, plush wine but rather an outstanding wine that impresses with its intense fruit purity. This has years ahead of it - bottles in this condition should last till 40 years of age, I would think. Further upside potential.
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Earth, blueberries, violets, such a pretty bouquet. Ripe blueberries distinct on the palate with some cherries at the end. Great balance of fruit and tannins for an excellent wine.
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Oh What a Night! aka Kelvin's Stag Party (Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck, Paragon): This was absolutely brilliant - even better than the last bottle I had. What a wonderful nose here, it was rather subtle in its nuanced aromas and yet really generous at the same time in classic La Chapelle style, full of complex aromas of cassis and black cherries, earth and spice, a bit of woodiness, all interwoven into an incredible bouquet. The palate was drinking at peak. It had a lovely clarity to its pure dark cherries and berries, a gentle but persistent underlayer of earth, mineral, meat, and then spice, tobacco and smoke, unfurling into a really long, beautiful finish wrapped in velvety tannins. While this had the same sense of integration and wholeness that I loved with the last bottle, it also showed a greater layered complexity that made it both delicious and immensely interesting. Textured, complex, balanced, complete, a lovely wine that was just such a pleasure to drink. With a bit of wok-fried suckling pig flank - heaven.
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Northern Rhone Dinner 2 vintages of La Chappelle, Landonne, Voge (Seattle, WA): Beautiful color despite the age. Dark maroon with a bricked edge. Beautiful nose showing red fruit, some green pepper, and floral notes. A few secondary components around (olive brine), but this has a ton of room to evolve. Perfect balance and palate weight. Red fruit, good acidity, savory components. Just singing. Tannins have mostly resolved, but some grip still persists. Long, floral finish.
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Tasted blind next to the 1997 La Chapelle (which wasn't blind for me because it was my wine). Barnyard stench at first. Blew off to reveal an elegant nose of red stone fruit and hung meat. Excellent wine but I felt it lacked the power of the 1997 (perhaps an age thing - after all it's 9 years older). Ready to drink.
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Tasted this at dinner without decanting, nevertheless observed through a period of three hours. Ruby with a garnet rim. Though showing reductive notes initially this one displays layer upon layer of complex aromas like savoury, animal notes, leather, green olives and truffles along with black fruit. Greatness is there definitely on the palate. Still fruity with parallel barnyard notes, horsey flavours as on the nose.
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Medium red, pale edged. Somewhat restrained nose, of floral notes, bacon, tar. Medium-light tannin, medium-low acidity. Decent concentration for 22 year old syrah from N-Rhone, but disappointing given the producer and cuvee. Zingy acidity on the finish. Bottle #3 of four.
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Although the fill was into the neck and the cork was sound, this bottle was a bit sickly, with the wine exhibiting tired and slightly oxidized aromas and flavors
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Hermitage evening (The Traklin Wine-Bistro): (at The Traklin wine-bistro) The cork broke during corking and red spots reached its top. The color tended towards red-brown. The aroma revealed considerable secondary nuances, beautiful complex nose of black cherries, underbrush, bacon, smoke as well as abundant aromas of cedar, damp forest, spice box, and Asian spices. Medium to full-bodied on the palate with medium acidity and soft residual tannins, deep earthy, meaty notes, some roasted red meat, black olives, loamy earth and just a little under layer of dark fruit. The middle palate is full, with flavors mirroring the nose. Finish was long & well put together, quite nicely long as well, transitioning seamlessly into a silkily elegant glide of ripe dark fruits. May not have the complexity of a truly great wine, but a joy to drink nevertheless. It seemed that the wine was at peak or a bit beyond. The wine was more pleasurable aromatically than on the palate.
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Slightly tawny in appearance. On the nose, we got cherry, rhubarb, stewed plums, slightly savoury. On the palate was beef stock, boiled cherry, plum. Overall soft and chewy tannins, good acidity, slightly smoky. Finish lasted 45secs +.
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This wine was serially tasted over two hours at a private walk-around wine and food event, having been aerated in decanter for at least a couple of hours prior to initial tasting. The wine was brought by another taster (Ken Johnson). Although a formal note was not written contemporaneously, it can be said that this deep-garnet gem has a beautiful complex nose of black cherries, underbrush, bacon and smoke. Full-bodied on the palate with medium acidity and soft residual tannins. The middle palate is full, with flavors mirroring the nose. Very long finish. This wine is drinking beautifully at this point. Drink now-12/17.
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The fill was perfect and the cork was sound; opened about 1 hour prior to service, but no decant. Still a youthful purple core, turning to ruby at the rim. Notes of crispy pork fat, ripe dark fruits, tree bark and spice. Medium to full bodied, with impressive concentration, loads of flavor, and good focus on the finish. Not the most complex La Chapelle, but a very good and solid bottle of Syrah; should age well for years to come. Went perfectly with the Flannery Pork Chops!
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Popped and poured into a decanter and served, the complex perfume offered black cherry, licorice, earth. bacon fat, iron, underbrush, spearmint and warm spices. Full bodied and concentrated with ample levels of dark fruit, the texture is soft, chewy and mouth filling. The finish ends with baked black berry flavors paired with minerals and spice. The only thing stopping the score from hitting a few points higher was the finish could have been longer. The wine improved in the glass over 2 hours spent at dinner. This will get better. I'd buy this over the 89 today.
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WGS: Paul Jaboulet La Chapelle (St Regis): Fine aged leather, barnyardish and almost burg like with its earthiness, dark florals and undergrowth compote. A complete wine with juicy cool bright fruits of dark red raspberries, hints of spices. All nicely balanced and really drinking at its peak. Drink now! for the maximum enjoyment.
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Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle Vertical - 2007, '05, '04, 1997, '91, '88, '85, '82, 1976 (St Regis, Singapore): My favourite wine of the evening. This was an absolutely seamless beauty. Very traditional on the nose, it showed musky, meaty notes, some roasted red meat, black olives, loamy earth and just a little underlayer of dark fruit. A bit reductive at first, with whiffs of slightly-turned eggs, but that blew off quite quickly. I thought where this wine really shone was on the palate. Integrated, seamless, it was just a lovely melange of ripe plush fruit - blue and blackberries - and deep earthy, meaty notes, all interwoven with nice acidity and velvety tannins. It was all so nicely packed that the wine just washed across the mid-palate in a lovely show of freshness and life. Finish was every bit as well put together, and quite nicely long as well, transitioning seamlessly into a silkily elegant glide of ripe dark fruits. May not have the complexity of a truly great wine, but a joy to drink nevertheless. I think this is at peak and will probably hold there for some time.
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'88 Northern Rhones at Siggy's: The odd-ball of the group but a sentimental favorite of mine. The nose is exotic and protean in nature, featuring red cherry fruit, licorice, some funk and a strong minerality. On the palate this delivers expansive flavors of red fruit with smoke and mineral. Smooth and elegant with great balance. Excellent finish. A surprisingly strong showing for this wine among three more highly regarded Northern Rhone.
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You have to be with it 3-4 hours to see what it can be. The wine has changed the smell almost every 15-30 mins, a mineral of Chateau Ausone, a Haut-Brion typical scents, sometime hints of chalk, earth and sometime perfume. The acidity's telling me...this wine just ready to drink and can holds on for another 15-20 years from now.
Reminds me the outstanding 1978.
Truly good wine that contains many layers and dimensions. Moreover, it's a delicious wine with a wonderful finished.
Definitive Rhone (Fabi and Rosi European Kitchen Austin, Texas): Richer in body than the 1987, but also showing signs of age, this wine will probably never drink better than right now. Rich on the nose, with cedar and game, this wine was solid and tannic, and had a tea component (like our 1987, but the tea was steeped longer). We tasted leather, tar, pork, grilled herbs, sweet red fruit, stewed cranberry sauce, cassis, dried herbs, graphite, violets, and cedar. It had a smoke character, was harmonious. One taster likened it to a 1988 Leoville Las Cases.
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Lovely nose of pepper and spices. Still obviously very young but I am pleased I have invested in a case of this wine. Think in time it could be nearly as good as the 90 and certainly in the same class as the 91. By advise is buy but hold for another 5 years or so. Excellent
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Lighter then the 90 but still pretty dark. Funky, pepper, cassis and eucalyptus nose. Very dry flavours, but not dried out. Excellent. Loved the nose on this one.
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Jaboulet La Chapelle Dinner (Vancouver, BC): On the nose, this is much dirtier than the ’90 with strong aromas of barnyard floor, bacon fat, tobacco, cherries and slight hints of eucalyptus. Softer in the mouth than the ’90. Medium to full body with medium to high tannins, medium acidity and lengthy finish. While this is drinking extremely well right now I think this will get even better with a few more years. Outstanding. 93+
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WIMPs N Rhone Lunch (The Ledbury, London): well finally a bad bottle. some floral and violet competing with a musty smell for nose space. flat and fruitless in the mouth, short clipped finish. oh well
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This is not for the faint hearted or the impatient .Please take note of the following. Decanted the wine at 3pm on Sunday. By dinner 5 hours later the wine was closed , flat not really what expected. HOWEVER and thankfully we kept some in a small decanter and tried it again the day after. Almost 30hours later we tried it again and now this is what we paid for. An outstanding wine with big body and finish like a train. Big fruits on the back with hints of liquorice. Tannins were still there and this felt like a wine that had a lot more to give. Please please if you have a bottle decant for 12hrs plus else you run the risk of drinking a closed wine.
Drank it on summer solstice and it was a fitting wine. If you have some lucky you
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I personally haven't liked a vintage after 1991, when Phillipe Jaboulet took over from Jacques Jaboulet as director of the estate. Many of the pre-1990 vintages are available on auction for under $150 (with the exception of the 1961). The '88 was delightful- very characteristic hermitage aromas of damp earth, dried violets, leather, game meats, blood, and dried red and black fruits. Didn't like this as much as the 1980 I had 6 months ago, but still great.
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Leoville Las Cases at My House: The nose shows a hint of brett, but delivers big and expressive flavors of black fruit, coffee, smoke, and saddle leather that are really impressive. In the mouth this seems full-bodied with dark fruit and earth dominating the flavors. Expansive, balanced and an excellent long finish. I'm glad to have one more bottle in the cellar...
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Hermitage La Chapelle Wine-Pages Offline (Vinoteca, Smithfield, London): Completely different nose. More mocha. Coffee cream. Wow, this is a youngster. Deep, dark fruit, tannin and acidity. Similar age profile to the 2001. This is very good but such a youngster. Tighter and younger version of the 89. ****(*)
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Garnet colored. Nose fully mature but much younger than the 1998, with cigar smoke, cigarette ash on a background of plummy fruit and graphite minerality. Palate is beautiful, mature, complex and long. A good La Chapelle but drink now.
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Again, another stellar wine that did not show well at all. Bottle variation? Maybe it was more prevalent then than it is today. Who know? It was thin and acidic showing very little fruit. Marginally better than the 1997 had at the same tasting.
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Not as much earth and tart fruit on the nose like the '83, rather this has powerful, ripe berry aromas. Not as complex, but more hedonistic than the '83. Lush, great mouthfeel with a dominant palate of ripe dark fruit. The spice and earth are there, but are integrated seamlessly in the background. Very nice.
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Bought a few bottles in auction, provenance unknown, but I am happy with the first. This is a very fine Hermitage, just starting to show some maturity. As is usual, it wants LOTS of air. Classic Northern Rhone Syrah, with spices and meat, and succulent tannins. dg-
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Beautiful dark red black color. First nose is slight orange peel, cinnamon, and cherry sea breeze. There is another smell like an aromatic root or nutmeg that is really awesome. Is there sandlewood? This wine is really good. In the mouth there are plenty of tannins, searing tannins. There is also a tart cherry feel -almost Burgundian- that I really like. A real treat. The nose on this one is 100 points, but in the mouth it looses a little, still great. The finish is quite nice as well. 94 at first
Added 8/30/2008 Four hours later the wine has become sublime. I mean, the tannins have become so sweet and smooth. All bitterness has disappeared and there is a candied but firm red and dark fruits attack that is remarkable. Changed to a 96
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Deep ruby fading to oranging red at the rim. Gorgeous nose of violets, dark stone fruits, thyme and iron (blood/liver). Austere but at the same time quite warming. The same austerity on the palate, and somewhat angular with some still-pronounced clay-like tannins, but mouthfilling and textured with some nice sweet fruit on the long, long finish. [Much better than the 89 also tasted recently, from the same storage.]
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atlanta blue nose group hermitage tasting which included 88,89,90 chave, 88, 89, 90 jaboulet la chappelle, 89, 90, 91 sorrell le greal and 89, 90, 91 chapoutier pavillon. weakest of the la chappelles but still a fine wine. nice fruit just lacked the richness of the next two vintages.
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Blackberry, cherry and earthy aromas. Acid presents itself on the palate and leaves a slightly tart sensation. Medium length. Not bad, better than our last bottle of this (which was corked!) but looking a bit tired.
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Light ruby color. The nose offers an intoxicating perfume of earth, jammy black fruits, spice, brown sugar and black pepper. The 88 La Chapelle sports a great syrupy texture. It's a very full bodied, rich, mouth filling wine with some tannins remaining to resolve. The palate is caressed by soft, elegant, velvety, thick streams of cherry, blackberry & plum flavors which fill the mouth.
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Figgy, farmyard and spicy, full and rich on the palate, lots of savoury fruit, but sweet too, a hint of cardboard, very decent syrah, but more like a very good Thalabert than a La Chapelle
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Anita: Beaut. nose w/tertiary compnents: wet leather, barn, earthy, hint tar, truffles maybe; med. bod mth--integrated t’s, hint sour cherry, lush old blkberry; Just a bit past prime, but grt w/beef stew. Let it air for 20-30 min--got better. A very earth driven wine that in a 375 has peaked already.
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TTG#7: Hamina Comes to Town (and we all drink good wine) (Keyaki Grill at Capital Tokyu; La Fève Wine Bar (Tokyo)): Attractive rust color. Nose shows forest floor, a wee bit of game, dried cherry fruit and little leather. Palate is largely gentle and resolved with more cherry, some lean plum, and just a touch of spice. Finish is of decent length and reintroduces the leather and forest. Blind, a large group of us all guessed Burg. I attribute this partially to the fact that we’d been drinking a lot of pinot that night and partially to the way the nose played out. Told it was Rhone, I guessed Jaboulet Thalabert. Close, but no cigar. So much for my street cred as a Burg guy. Good wine, but I wouldn’t necessarily chase it hard.
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Upon opening the aromas jumped out of the bottle, Pepper, spice, tobacco, earth, smoke, meat, and dark fruit. It really seemed like the wine wanted to jump out of the bottle. This is a 100 point nose!! We poured small tastes and put the rest in the decanter. Most everything followed through on the first taste, with some nice tannin and and a hint of too much acid(tartness). The wine felt lush, and smooth and had a very nice finish. About 1/2 hour later we poured a glass to have with Beef Stew. The wine seemed to have become disjointed because the acid/tartness became more dominant, with tart fruits and licorice dominate on the palate. I set it aside an dcame back to it 1/2 hour later. It was starting to come back together, with a incredible nose again of Earth, Tobacco, Smoke, and chared meats and fruits. This all followed through, but at the end of the finish the tartness was still there. We continued to sip on this for 2 more hours without much of a change. Great nose, good wine, but the tart/acidic finish brings down the wine.
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Earthy, barnyard aromas with some lingering black fruit. Big flavors balance remaining fruit with earthiness and black pepper and spice. Moderate length and finish. Better than another bottle from earlier this year.
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Dan's 25th anniversary (store opening). Only got a couple of samples from 30"-2 hours after opening .. needed more time. Dark violet, slight amber tinge at edge but very fresh appearance. White pepper, tobacco. Elegant, clean and lovely. This is not a voluptuous Hermitage but goes that great direction where there is intensity and concentration without size. Surprisingly youthful, fresh and crisp acidity with a soft tannic backbone for balance. Beautiful and clean finish. I rather liked this a lot, especially the second sample which had opened up quite a bit. This does not approach the '83 for wildness or the '90 for fruit but is livelier than the '85 and goes more the route of Burgundy in it's quiet and velvet presence.
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A Lunch: Pichon 85 Chapelle 88 Tart 00: One of the last bottles of lunch so suffered a little with palate fatigue. Still lovely, very feminine, a characteristic I always forget when thinking about Hermitage, stinky fruit and leather on the nose and wonderful symmetry. Balanced, poised and thoughtful.
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Well this is certainly a nice, relatively mature Hermitage. The nose is beautiful with smokey notes of roasted meat, and sharp, spicy notes, maybe the ubiquitous 'Asian Spice' that I see people refer to although perhaps a little closer to cinnamon (but not quite as sharp). Anyway, this is lovely to smell up close and from a distance, as the decanter literally fills the room with a gorgeous bouquet that goes beyond what I can describe. The palate is a bit less giving. There is not a huge amount of fruit, although I detect some nice grilled plums and a generally ripe, black fruit profile that is somewhat dominated by mineral notes and some black pepper. I wish I was a little more floored by this wine, but the memory of several tastes of the voluptuous 1990 La Chapelle leaves this lithe little beauty in the gutter by comparison. I prefer the more layered, fleshy and ripe profile of the 1990 by a longshot.
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I was a bit concerned when the waiter decanted this almost immediately upon arrival and left it in the wide decanter. Turns out it was a great move as this wine is still pretty tight (and certainly has a long life ahead). Full deep red/black color. Lovely forward aroma of black fruit and spice with a hint of matchstick. Rich lovely black fruit with some spiciness on the palate. Opened up even more in the glass through the evening. Very nice. 94 points. 9/05
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La Chapelle verticale (1978-2002) (Bad Ragaz, Switzerland): The nose shows some tertiary notes - first wine to do so in the whole line-up! The mouth is really fine and elegant while still being quite concentrated and powerful. Definitely ready to drink and will give good pleasure. Very "gourmand" - not at all the "bruiser" style.
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Quite mature aromas of leather and barnyard. Fruit is less dominant than earthy flavors with some smoky spice as well. I didn't find this to work well with food.
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Seattle Tasting Group does older Northern Rhône reds (Bellevue, WA, USA): Compost and forest floor rule here with a bit of an oxidized note. The palate shows soy and more sour components. However, this wine seemed damaged. Despite that, it was still an interest wine with nicely resolved mouthfeel.
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Impressive nose on blackberries, black currant and more complex aromas of leather and tobacco. Very powerful, firm and focused tannins, big structure. As you can guess I really enjoyed it!
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The La Chapelles were an interesting duo. I have always considered the 88 to be the better of the two wines and my opinion has not changed. However, I am concerned that the 89 showed much worse than I was expecting.
Thankfully the 88 held up the side. Less ripe on the nose, with less new oak influence, the 88 is a far more structured and gamey wine.At this time, much longer and complex than the 89, but will need a few more years in the cellar, in my opinion. A great La Chapelle - more old fashioned than the latest vintages have been.
I get the feeling that some of the Northern Rhone producers are trying to compete with Oz in the new oak sweepstakes, sometimes making compellimg wines, but other times just producing yet another innocuous international styled red.
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Tasted at Singer & Foy survey of new Rhones. One of the darkest wines of all. Black ruby; extremely attractive. Lovely, spicy nose, with loads of fruit. Jammy, blueberry. Great. In the mouth, good fruit, but not up to the complexity of the nose. Good. 5-13-14-7: 89/100.
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3/28/2024 - salil wrote: 92 Points
WCC Syrah from around the world tasting (Clifton Park, NY): I've had some hit and miss experiences with various La Chapelles, but this was very much a hit. Lovely wine - quite mature, with red fruits, earth, a sauvage meaty character, and more savoury brothy notes coming together seamlessly on a medium weight palate. There's a faintly roasted tinge to the aromas here and it still feels a touch blocky and tannic on the back end, but the overall package is lovely to sit down with and explore with a bit of air.
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3/7/2024 - thesternowl wrote: 92 Points
Rhône or Nôwhere 2.0 (Malcolm, NE): The fruit for "La Chapelle" is sourced predominantly from Le Méal and Bessards (with a little form Greffieux and Rocoules. Relative to the two Chave’s, the 1988 “La Chapelle” seems a bit more like a Hermitage fastball right down the middle of the plate. Desiccated mixed berries, olives, purple flowers, and minerals with a touch of ethyl acetate. Again a great pairing with grilled lamb and Moroccan spices. Vinous and drinking well now through 2035. Merci Matt!
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2/23/2024 - hprphf wrote: 92 Points
Lighter rendition, sappy, woody, easy to drink. 92
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2/2/2024 - jgreco Likes this wine: 92 Points
DM Wine Dinner (Canary Club, New York, NY): a little past it’s peak but classic hermitage.
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1/12/2024 - Araldinho Likes this wine: 94 Points
Medium deep brick red.
Aromas of cassis, blackberry jam, charcuterie, truffle, hawthorn and pine needle.
Dry sanded tannins. Blackcurrant acids and walnut bitterness.
Medium body.
Palate of blackcurrant jam, chocolate, juniper wood, black tea, rosemary and grilled meat.
A rustic, well-balanced and classical hermitage with black jammy fruit, typical meaty aromas and long, vital and elegant finish. Drink within 5-10 years. Tasted 2024.
Tasted alongside Pichon Baron 1988 and the present wine was as powerful, complex and tasty as the matched wine if not better.
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11/25/2023 - engelwein Likes this wine: 92 Points
Farbe ziegelrot, leicht bräunlich. Nase mittel intensiv. Im Mund etwas Frucht, feine Säure und Süsse, bald trinken!
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11/24/2023 - Dionysos55 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Anniversaire d'un grand ami.Robe évoluée.Bouquet de moyenne intensité due peut-être à une absence de décantation ???? Arômes d'herbes,épices mais pas de côté fumé,d'olives noires habituels marqueurs de la syrah.La bouche est d'un autre niveau:puissance,structure,pas de creux et grande longueur finale.Cette cuvée n'a pas vraiment dit son dernier mot mais une décantation de 2 heures s'impose à mon sens.
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8/18/2023 - Jeff Leve wrote: 93 Points
Full-bodied, firm, classic, and slightly rustic, the meaty, dark, earthy fruits are accompanied by tobacco, earth, pepper, green olives, and herbs. The wine softened a bit with air, but it is fully ready to go. Drink from 2023-2035.
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5/27/2023 - 911henrik wrote: 93 Points
Drink now, but I must say it holds up really well for a 35 year old!
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1/17/2023 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Commanderie des Costes du Rhone - Spring 2023 Kick-off (Gabriel Kruether): Poured side by side with the '83 which was a bit off. This was a great bottle though. Very vibrant and drinking nicely.
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1/15/2023 - fcxj wrote: 92 Points
A little dirty, but if you're willing to overlook still has enough fruit to offer pleasure.
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12/4/2022 - chrisdgsmith@hotmail.co.uk Likes this wine: 92 Points
Another of DT's bottles, this time served in Bristol. The wine had been decanted early and on this occasion showed a very evolved palate and not really much trace of black fruits.
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11/19/2022 - OenoEd Likes this wine: 92 Points
A cellar stored bottle direct from Jaboulet. Subdued nose, but quite full, rich, round, and balanced but for a lean toward tart. Lighter weight than the ‘85 and ‘82 in this flight, maybe not as rich or dense, but still with excellent minerality and acidity. Drink up, preferably w steak tartare or carpaccio, with lots of black pepper.
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9/17/2022 - François1986 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Robe vermillon d'intensité moyenne légèrement tuilée sur le disque.
Nez complexe moyennement aromatique + principalement et logiquement sur des belles notes tertiaires : pruneau, sous-bois, truffe, café, réglisse, coté sanguin, garrigue, thym, olive noir, épice fine.
La bouche épicée aux saveurs de truffe et de réglisse et à l'alcool modéré. Les tannins sont fondus. Longueur est encore très appréciable.
Cette cuvée évoluée se boit admirablement bien pour le moment.
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8/22/2022 - 911henrik wrote: 94 Points
Holds up very well.
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7/21/2022 - oldwines Likes this wine: 94 Points
Sea, Feather and Land (New Jersey): In my cellar since release, decanted at 4:15pm and served beside 2002 Penfolds Grange with Shane’s Duck breast with black eyed peas and duck foie gras At 8pm. I viewed them as tied though others thought the Grange was WOTN. This was medium, translucent garnet with just a hint of bricking. The nose was very fragrant with earthy leather, meat and sous bois. Palate was smokey with bacon, tar and dark red fruit. Finish was long to very long and oh so elegant. Balanced and still surprisingly energetic, I thought it elevated the food and vice versa. Lovely wine from a vintage that some under-rate and seems to be prone to some bottle variation or something given what I read from others. For future reference this is fully mature and probably best with a 2 hour decant…drink up and enjoy with some duck!
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7/7/2022 - paulst Likes this wine: 89 Points
Rubber; cherry and cassis; faded fast; smooth.
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2/1/2022 - lonesomerockguy wrote:
At TDS with NZ. Out of magnum, open 24 hours. wine of the night. spectacular, great balance
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2/1/2022 - nzinkgraf wrote:
From Mag. Licorice palate. Easy to drink. Lots of fresh pep to its step. Still a touch astringent. Light tannin and still lots of life to go.
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1/31/2022 - acyso wrote: 90 Points
January Rhônes (Chicago, IL): From magnum. The best of the Chapelles opened tonight. Red berries and elegance, but with that typical Jaboulet blockiness that really detracts from the overall enjoyment of the wine. Moderately complex, but this mostly feels too tannic for any further enjoyment right now. Whether this becomes a beauty the way Chave's does isn't really a question up for debate here: no. This feels like a wine that's just going to dry out. But for now, this is adequate and reasonably representative of the state of Hermitage.
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12/17/2021 - jhngo Likes this wine: 93 Points
youthful deep dark purple. no signed of aging. fruit forward and modern vintage.
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10/17/2021 - jamesabdavis wrote:
Very pretty nose: mature berry fruit with herbs and leather. Mint.
Mid-weight on the palate, fruit fading a bit and acidity to the fore. Similarly on the finish, but the fruit is still there and it’s quite long.
Really lovely, the aromatic character of this is particularly appealing.
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8/28/2021 - paulst Likes this wine: 92 Points
Earthy; light; smooth and integrated; light raisin; soft lean finish.
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8/10/2021 - paulst Likes this wine: 92 Points
Light nose and body; some earth and light raisin; integrated and ready; light balanced finish.
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6/21/2021 - LB88 wrote: 92 Points
I forgot how good old 1980’s la chapelle’s are. The lovely dry prune and raisin flavours with tertiary truffles and earth. Delicious. This is just starting to dry out and is not as long as I would like.
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5/20/2021 - sbartonde6+2 Likes this wine: 94 Points
From a magnum - Robe grenat avec une frange d’évolution. Le nez est aromatique : thym, olive noire, cuir, prune, cerise noire, touche de violette, réglisse-tabac. La bouche est agréable, fluide, bien équilibrée, plus bourguignonne que sudiste. Le corps est moyen, les tanins plutôt bien patinés, la finale réglissée et fruitée. Quel beau vin malgré ses 33 ans.
Garnet color with an evolution fringe. The nose is aromatic: thyme, black olive, leather, plum, black cherry, touch of violet. The palate is pleasant, fluid, well balanced, more Burgundy than southern. The body is medium, the tannins quite well patinated, the liquorice and fruity finish. What a beautiful wine despite its 33 years.
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4/20/2021 - CSteefel wrote: flawed
Another bottle of the 1988 Jaboutlet La Chappelle, but from a different provenance. Dead on Arrival, no trace of northern Rhone character, or of any character suggesting a finer wine. Indistinguishable from a $15-20 generic New World wine. That said, also no overt expression of oxidation, ullage, or TCA, so I am guessing this just did not make it to 33 years because of storage at least than ideal (very cool) temperatures. The contrast with the earlier pristine bottle could not have been more dramatic.
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4/19/2021 - chrisdgsmith@hotmail.co.uk Likes this wine: 94 Points
A generous offering from DT alongside a 1990 Beaucastel! This wine was more obviously grape derived than the extraordinarily evolved Beaucastel. It was beautifully rounded and still showing black fruits. Fully mature and possibly in a very graceful phase of decline but still a delight. It didn't quite seem to evolve in the glass as much as I expected but still a special experience. I'd be surprised if any but the best cellared bottles would improve but plenty to enjoy for a few years yet.
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3/20/2021 - CSteefel Likes this wine: 95 Points
First bottle was beautifully nuanced, elegant, almost Burgundian in its complex expression of red fruit (seeming to have started life as much darker), with gradually emerging notes of sage and thyme as the it evolves in the glass. In short, a classic expression of northern Rhone Syrah. This shows a roasted meat note, with just the suggestion of surmaturite one might expect from a Syrah, but overall the balance is remarkable.
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2/16/2021 - forceberry wrote: 93 Points
Tasted blind.
Moderately translucent and rather evolved pomegranate red color with a thin, colorless rim. Savory, evolved and slightly pungent nose with slightly tertiary aromas of smoke, wizened forest fruits, some gamey tones, a little bit of tobacco, light nuances of kalamata olives and a hint of beef jerky. The wine is quite ripe and silky yet also dry and moderately grippy on the palate with a rather full body and savory flavors of charred game and meaty umami, some wizened dark fruits, a little bit of beef jerky, light notes of earthy garrigue or dried Provencal herbs, a hint of stony minerality and a touch of tart red berries. The overall balance is right on point, thanks to the rather high acidity and proportionate, somewhat grippy medium tannins. The finish is long, dry and somewhat grippy with savory flavors of wizened blackberries, some savory leather tones, a little bit of tar, light stony mineral tones, evolved hints of beef jerky and tobacco and a crunchy touch of tart lingonberries.
A very lovely Hermitage at its peak or inching beyond it. The overall feel is quite tertiary with an obviously aged character, but the wine is still very nuanced, structured and very much alive - not really going downhill yet. However, it is very hard to pinpoint where the wine is from (although, in retrospect, I should've picked up those hints from the notes of olive and game...) but I really don't mind as the wine is drinking so well right now. My guess was a Tuscan red at or around 30 years of age. Well, I got the country completely wrong, but at least I was right on point with the age. I can imagine this might've been slightly better some years ago, and it won't benefit from any further aging, but I doubt it is going to fall apart within the next few years. Drink now or in the near future. A lovely old Syrah.
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12/18/2020 - Marc wrote: 97 Points
Family arrives for Pre-Christmas visit (Wanaka Wedge House, Queensberry, Central Otago, New Zealand): Extraordinary Hermitage drunk at full maturity. Essence of bacon fat, undergrowth, dried rose, smoke, dried raspberry on the nose. In the mouth, close to fully resolved, very tertiary, but still with a beautiful core of fruit, and a sense of structure that elevates this wine into a very great example of the marque. This feels like on the the last old-school La Chapelles to me - certainly the 89, and the profound 90 feel more modern.
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9/7/2020 - _water.into.wine_ Likes this wine: 95 Points
Probably my favourite bottle so far. Drank alongside a 1990 in a mini vertical and this held its own. Slightly lighter and more aged in the glass, with delightful barnyard and dirt on the nose, all wrapped within meat and game. This was elegant and balanced. In a perfect spot to drink now, as I don't think it will improve, but clearly no rush for well stored bottles.
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6/7/2020 - lifebreath wrote: 94 Points
Two bottles with NY strip. What great wine! Both bottles fantastic. Medium ruby/garnet, lovely nose of berries and orange peel with a little leather. Lively acidity, cherries and orange, ripe plum and pepper. Excellent mature Hermitage.
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1/26/2020 - rhapsody5435 Likes this wine: 93 Points
瓶口木塞有霉,没有漏液,没有浸塞到外面,好现象。
断塞,但最终完整搞出来了。
开塞时闻到很明显陈皮,倒入酒杯后消失,继而是昏暗的略微马厩味,酸度很高,醒酒30分钟。
30-40分钟后,昏暗的气息消失,取而代之的是明亮的果味,杨梅、橙子、陈皮、花香、菌菇、微弱胡椒。依然很高的酸度,但漂亮,单宁细腻无比。由于优秀的酸度,回味超过1分钟并且不是慢慢消退而是缓缓铺开。
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1/10/2020 - DBenke wrote: 94 Points
Mature Hermitage. Great Fruit. High acidity. Loved this.
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1/10/2020 - Claret & CdP Gang Likes this wine:
Served blind, medium red, tertiary nose, most though a Southern Rhône, thought a 90s, a 88 Jaboulet Hermitage, loved it!
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9/28/2019 - Goldstone Likes this wine: 94 Points
"Mr. & Mrs. White" Anniversary Dinner (Friends' Rooftop, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong): Not decanted...no need. Opaque deep bright jewelled black/ruby colour just turning transparent at the rim edge. Nose is gosh... immediately captivating garrique, deep black plum, really fresh, alive and open, hints of liquorice root, star anise, blackberries in the background. Palate is bright acidity, crisp blackberry fruit, bright tannins with super structure, high acidity but in a freshness enhancing way. Really elegant and fully mature but this bottle had years of life ahead of it. Medium weight and resonant reverberence inside the head on the finish but so long and elegant. My last and absolutely my best bottle from a case of 12. Adieu. 94+
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9/6/2019 - kfrench150 Likes this wine: 90 Points
Slightly protruding cork that was soaked 3/4 through and broke in half upon removal. Lots of fine sediment in the bottle. Fully mature garnet colour that is still quite deep and fades to a tawny port at the rim. Nose is subdued and primarily leathery and tart red fruits. Also some notes of brined black olives, mushroom, forest floor and charred wood. The palate is medium weight, very smooth and tart - bordering on sour. Interesting notes of dried red fruit, sour cherry, cured black olives, mulch, strong black tea and mushrooms. Moderately high acidity. Long, smooth finish that is mostly light red fruit and leather. Very interesting. Perhaps a bit past its prime but still very pleasant.
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8/24/2019 - _water.into.wine_ Likes this wine: 94 Points
My second time of having this, and this was a much better bottle. Still purple to Ruby in the glass and surprisingly dark. Meat, bacon, barnyard, game. Absolutely classic Northern Rhone. Layered to complex. This is balanced and ready to drink now. Served blind to VO at her birthday
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7/24/2019 - Jeff Leve wrote: 95 Points
At peak maturity, the wine has good concentration, ripe, stony, red fruits, pepper, smoke and herbs. There is a nice bite and freshness to the juicy fruits with plenty of peppery berries on the nose and palate. This is drinking in the right place today.
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6/8/2019 - Axone wrote: flawed
Archi-bouchonnée
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4/16/2019 - Claret & CdP Gang Likes this wine: 93 Points
Surprisingly medium light hue, gamely, funky, soya sauce, mature nose but with plenty of fruits, a lovely Hermitage, very elegant on the palate, drank with the 88 Comte Senard Corton Clos du Roi, both very good, an interesting comparison
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4/15/2019 - _water.into.wine_ wrote: 92 Points
Quite light in the glass upon pouring, then seemingly becomes darker and darker. Initial notes of perfume, then delivers classic notes of meat and game, before massively becoming coffee and oxo beef stock cubes. Really adds weight with air.
Still has years left.
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4/7/2019 - MAOC wrote:
Didn’t seem to be firing on all cylinders. Softer fruit with leather, soy and bbq meat. Very enjoyable but had better examples of this ***1/2-****
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4/4/2019 - beatles wrote: flawed
badly corked
#ChaveBlancXtravaganza
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3/23/2019 - vinhonotte Likes this wine: 93 Points
Fine Wines SG - Best of Rhone Valley Grand Cru Tasting (Fine Wines SG): A clear, pretty tint of ruby red, which is surprising for its age. A heady nose which combined rose, lillies, redcurrant, leaves, wood, leather, smoked meats. Still some tannin structure, and very juicy, and remiscent of having a chargrilled steak, roasted greens,and sour cherry. Undertone of breads, which lingered to the end with the smokes and grass
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2/17/2019 - galewskj wrote: 94 Points
Chateauneuf and Hermitage: Pop and pour. This was a little more red-fruited than I expected. It is very much a cool climate Syrah and true to Hermitage typicity. There were berries and meat.
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2/17/2019 - rocknroller wrote: 95 Points
Monthly Tasting Group: Older CDP's and Northern Rhones (P.S. Steak, Mpls): Very dark red color. PNP, drank a glass plus over an hour plus. This was a classic, first class example of mature Hermitage. Spot on, graphite, dark berries, black and blue, meat, blood, bacon fat, soft and textured, smoky, cassis, white pepper. Beautiful. Another mature wine with miles to go though. Drank next to the kid brother '95 which was considerably more youthful.
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2/17/2019 - chablis28 wrote: 95 Points
Fabulous btl tonight and a depth, last minute switcheroo by Dave D to pair with Steve P.s '95 Chappelle. Thanks Dave!! Fully resolved and an utterly classic example of Hermitage. Bacon, red & blue fruit, iron, mineral, underbrush, mushroom. This is endlessly deep and intriguing. Loved it! Best ofall, I believe this sourced down the road from release and still shined! Steve Ps '95 was also fun and classic but a bit less fully realized and in need of more time.
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12/13/2018 - Raage wrote: 92 Points
CDV
Un Nez rhodanien (nord), fumé, lardé et végétal qui évoque la vieille syrah, avec ses notes qui poivronnent presque, ce petit goût de légume (comme chez Graillot). En bouche, le vin est somme toute assez léger (le temps a fait son oeuvre) et parait trop monolithique, un rien fadasse comparé au superbe Grandes Places 1998 de Gérin bu à ses côtés.
Plaisant certes, mais pas magique.
A boire
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8/13/2018 - Paul S wrote: 92 Points
Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle Dinner (1978, '82, '83, '85, '88, '90, '95, '97, '98, '99, 09) (Taberna, Bukit Merah): Pretty good, with a major "but". I have had this numerous times blind over the years, and it has impressed without fail. This particular bottle was behind the curve though - I found it less enjoyable than either the 1982 or the 1985 in the same flight, and certainly less impressive than the bottles I have had in the past. It had the meatiest nose of the lot, showing whiffs of bacon and roasted meat along with deep blueberry aromas and pockets of spice and violets. It was a powerful, quite arresting bouquet. The palate was really yummy as well, with firm but refined tannins and bright acidity, fine flavours of blueberries and spice, a bit of minerality, all this wed to a subtle earth and meat savouriness moving into a decent finish. Unfortunately, it was not quite as complete as previous examples I had, nor indeed when compared with either the 1982 or the 1985 - this came across a bit thinner and less giving. Pretty enjoyable in its on way, but not firing on all cylinders.
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8/11/2018 - retired_and_roving wrote: flawed
Syrah from Afar with a Champagne Flight to start (Long Island, NY): 11/12 syrahs tasted single blind. Badly corked - there was no debate on this cardboard aroma was powerful and the palate was pretty shot.
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8/11/2018 - MC2 Wines wrote: flawed
An Afternoon in LI w/Friends (Champagne Reception, Syrah from Afar) (Long Island): Corked which was sad. Came across as sweet cardboard.
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6/10/2018 - djlevin Likes this wine: 96 Points
Five Vintages of Jaboulet La Chapelle (Sonoita, AZ): This wine was almost everyone’s favorite in the group. Not as intense as the 1986, with more fruit on the nose and palate. Even softer, with medium minus tannin and medium acidity. This wine was missing the bigger mouth-feel of the '86 vintage and did not have enough tannin left to provide a good sense of structure. Not quite as balanced and the finish was a bit shorter. Don’t get me wrong, this was a fabulous wine too and I would drink it every day if I had an unlimited supply, but in a world class sense, just a step under the 1986.
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6/3/2018 - apple1813 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Transparent garnet with an orange hue, lots of sediments
Double decanted to remove sediments
Nose of dust, funky plum and sour cherries from the bottle
Faint aroma of pepper, beef, coffee and leather emerges with 30 minutes in glass
Strong but pleasant acidity, mellow and mature tannin, good saline minerality
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5/16/2018 - MC2 Wines wrote:
Acker Auction & Commanderie des Costes du Rhone (Zuma & Racines): Very nice wine that at times reminds me of a bordeaux. Maybe this isn't the best year, but I actually really enjoy this one. It's well aged and in a good spot at the moment. Time to drink I think.
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5/12/2018 - fclarity wrote: 93 Points
Tasted blind, this wine had red/purple center with red rims. The medium intensity nose showed plum, mild black spices, and blackberries.
In the mouth, this wine was still young. It was ripe but still a bit tight. It had rounded tannin and very good length.
This wine is a powerhouse. If you need to drink this now, I would give it at least 8 hours in a decanter. My guess is that it will pick up a couple points in 10 years.
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2/18/2018 - beatles wrote: 94 Points
Mature. Smokey, notes of leather, dark fruit, olives, tobacco, a manly wine, such a treat in the midst of tasting only youngsters.
#ViniSud
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12/15/2017 - Bob H wrote:
At dinner last night - unfortunately, I have a very bad cold, so this is more of an impression than a TN, although all three of the other attendees really liked the wine. Nicely mature and medium-bodied, with good persistence. From a case bought on release, and I didn't see any fall off throughout the meal. Probably Drink or Hold.
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11/30/2017 - WoodieBayArea wrote: 88 Points
not a good performance, lots of particulate sediment, very dark in color, nose pretty nice -- was dirty, dark and musky but with some black and blue fruit too, maybe florals in the background, but I judge the juice more by the palate and this is dull, dark, brooding, could coax any fruit out of it, rustic and yet acidic... not nearly as good as my prior bottles
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11/7/2017 - liber Likes this wine: 95 Points
10th of 12, opened 40 minutes, perfect level, travel half up cork, older and amber rimmed, but more harmonious and complex than my July 16 bottle/note, dry tannins on finish resolved in favour of velvet and caramel flavours, very attractive on nose and palate and with admirable persistence, now fully mature and best drunk over next 5 to 10 years. VF (18.5).
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9/11/2017 - Bandreas wrote:
Warm brownish red color with orange tinge.
Earthy, multi-facetted nose; leather, garrigue, thyme and sun-scorched soil in Provence.. Ripe tannins, nicely integrated; bit of lovage, too.
On the palate it is round and mature; well balanced with a firm backbone of tannin.
The wine is fully ripe and ready, drinking extremely well. Should hold up for a while.
A great experience.
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7/21/2017 - Verb wrote: 93 Points
brick red, just a hint of orange - nose initially closed but with time opened with plum fruit and smokey meat undertones - full rich mouth with beautiful acid-tannin-fruit balance - moderately long finish - drinking beautifully with food now, but has the intensity and balance to last another decade easily
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5/20/2017 - MAOC wrote:
Double decanted 2-3 hours before drinking. A good bottle of this, certainly: quite rich blackcurrant with red fruit hints, notes of leather, smoke and pronounced grilled/BBQ meat. Drinking nicely but also still a little tight on the finish - no rush on these, good to have plenty more ****(1/2)
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4/6/2017 - hugomleger Likes this wine: 99 Points
Lots of fruits, good acidity, shiitake mushroom tertiary. Insanely good wine.
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3/26/2017 - KenK Likes this wine: 92 Points
Good, zippy dark dried black fruit with some earthy appeal, but a dried out and a tad lean. Drink up.
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3/23/2017 - DoubleD1969 wrote: 89 Points
Difficult to fairly evaluate this wine. Tasted side by side with a '97 Chapoutier Le Meal and a '96 Guigal La Mouline, the Chapelle seemed a bit dull. Color was opaque but maybe a shade lighter than the other two wines. Couldn't get much on the nose, but the palate was velvety with fresh red plums. Oldest Chapelle I've tasted. Drink sooner than later.
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12/29/2016 - Goldstone Likes this wine: 89 Points
Briefly decanted shortly after a 13-hour flight from Hong Kong. Bright, translucent red plum colour. Lovely nose of plums, damp earth, pine woods and Asian spice powder. Palate is fresh and bright.....much more so than any of my previous 10 bottles from the case. Lots of red and black plum fruit. Rounded, almost velvet, texture. Hints of autumn on the back palate. Some resonance and length on the finish. I really enjoyed this and great to share with our friends on a very frosty night in the Cambridgeshire fens. I really recommend drinking this up soon because too many bottles are a lot more autumnal than this one was.
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12/14/2016 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Acker Holiday Auction (A Voce Madison): Opened and decanted. Really excellent. In contention for WOTN for me. It's beautiful. Wine tastes young. Lots of fruit - plum, currants, hints of spice. Came back to it again and again throughout the evening.
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11/29/2016 - WinoRick wrote: 90 Points
In my cellar reside the '88, '89, & La Chapelles. This bottle was the first that seemed tired. Brownish on the rim and much of the fruit gone. Still a good nose and pleasant drink.
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10/4/2016 - SimonG wrote: 92 Points
Hermitage La Chapelle & Grange (10 Greek Street, London): Quite a dusty, deep nose. The blood and iron needs a little coaxing. Some green olive too. Quite dry and savoury with the olive coming through on the palate. Very smooth and mellow finish. Fruit recedes with air, on this bottle at least, lovely but drink up. ****
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7/18/2016 - MAOC wrote:
Decanted for 30 mins or so. Mid to dark red in the glass, some aging at the rim. Glorious nose initially still quite primary blackcurrant and dark cherry, but quickly revealing notes of leather, roasted meat, spice and gamey hints; the palate was quite intense and rich with largely resolved tannins. The wine became a little more savoury with dried blood hints across two hours but overall it seemed at a glorious peak. I still think this vintage is underappreciated - this bottle was great and materially better than my last one ****1/2+
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7/15/2016 - liber Likes this wine: 95 Points
9th of 12, decanted an hour, perfect cork and level, previous notes from 2000 very good to very fine - deep translucent red, brown rim; attractive nuanced bouquet, smoked bacon, truffle and plum/black cherry with a touch of earth and spice; fullish, long and persistent, quality nuanced fruit, very fine structure and balance, tad dry on exit, fully mature. VF (18.5).
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4/2/2016 - NostraBacchus wrote: flawed
Unfortunately corked.
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3/10/2016 - Burgnick Likes this wine: 91 Points
Ex chateau. Nose had flowers, soil, mixed berries and some red fruit with a burgundian style. Palate was on the rustic side with more black fruit and plums. I thought it was an aged nebbiolo. It was overall enjoyable but it lacked an edge to rate this higher.
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3/6/2016 - Jeff Leve wrote: 95 Points
Ruby with bricking to the color, the wine offers cherry, thyme, underbrush, charcoal, smoke, spice and earthy aromas. Full bodied, concentrated, long, fresh and straddling the fence of elegance and rusticity, the wine leaves you with a complex mouthful of blackberry, cherry griotte, cassis, spice and green olives. Decanted about 30 minutes before tasting.
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11/15/2015 - Jeff Leve wrote: 96 Points
I love when a wine is aromatic the moment it's splashed into the decanter. Showing some age, not nearly its almost 28 years worth of sleeping, the wine shows off its cassis, truffle, bacon fat, floral, earth and black cherry aromatics with ease. Full bodied, deep, lusty, rich and satisfying, the gorgeous mouthful of spicy black cherry and earth tastes and feels great. For a wine of this quality, style and level of maturity, it's a steal in today's marketplace. If you have a bottle, pop a cork. If it's well stored, it could improve, or at least remain at this level for another decade or two. But there is no reason to hesitate on this beauty.
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9/15/2015 - beatles wrote: 97 Points
A majestic wine, this really brings to mind the words of George Saintsbury, it is truly a manly wine, of there ever was one. Rich, broad, but restrained and cool. Will live on, but on a plateau, I think
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8/25/2015 - winemaker wrote: flawed
Corked!
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7/28/2015 - Paul S wrote: 95 Points
Northern Rhone Night (Boca, Bukit Pasoh, Singapore): Third time I have had this wine blind, and I have been blown away every time. This had a beautiful nose. Somehow forward and expressive, yet keeping a certain reserve at the same time, it showed a nice backdrop of wet earth and broiled meat underlying more aromatic notes of bluberries and violets and spice. Deep and insistent, yet with a lovely, subtle sense of nuance. The same could be said about the palate. Full, generous, yet impeccably balanced and beautifully structured, it had all the depth that the nose promised, with mouthfilling flavours of blueberries and plums and cassis wrapped around a lovely spicy, core, yet also showing a noble structure of fine-boned tannins and wonderfully bright, juicy acidity that stretched the wine into a compellingly long finish, where blueberries, mineral and spice wound their leisurely way through the backpalate. Very complete, and very good indeed, this was a drinking beautifully now.
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5/23/2015 - alittle wrote: 94 Points
Year 3: Super Tastings Round 1 of 5; Dave Does Birth Year Wines (Dave's House): Popped and poured, followed approximately 2 hours. Garnet in the glass, with a very slight brick. On the nose, this takes on a slightly darker and more animal profile than the '85; a melange of black fruit; blackcurrant, blackberry, black cherry; black olive brine, wet dog fur, espresso roast coffee, leather, bacon fat and camp fire. On the palate, this shows a touch more depth and concentration than the '85, as well as a bit more structure present. There is still some unresolved tannin that ever so slightly dries the moderate plus finish. Fully mature; drink now.
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5/23/2015 - Wine Canuck wrote: 94 Points
Year 3 - Super Tasting 1 of 5 - Dave does Birth Year Wines: This pours a touch darker than the 85 la chapelle with medium plus bricking. The nose is neck and neck, showing a bit younger and darker. The nose is of black olive, leather, a slight metallic edge, saline, amaro liquor, cola, root beer, dark cherry and black currants. I do get some elevated alcohol on the finish along with all the dark fruit and spice of the nose. Lovely wine.
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5/23/2015 - Dave Canada wrote: 94 Points
Year 3 - Super Tasting 1 of 5 - David does Birth Year Wines (Dave's House, Kitchener, ON): This was rocking from first pour....olive brine, blue fruit, roasted meat, fat and smoke.
The palate was quite complex showing similar characteristic notes of brine, olives, smoked meat and campfire.
Finish was medium+ and quite complex. Pretty wine.
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4/6/2015 - Vini Ciclismo wrote: 92 Points
Deep ruby red, slightly lighter rim.
Very fragrant sweet ripe red berries, with just a subtle dark inky spice.
Light to medium weight, elegant and silky. Poised and very well balanced. Soft red berries, plums and raspberries, a very fine vein of darker licorice and inky spice. Beautiful structure, closes with fine acidity and soft very fine tannins. Gracefully aged, developed characters are refined and still very secondary.
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3/9/2015 - tinybubbles wrote: 83 Points
This bottle was certainly past its prime. Smokey aromas and flavors predominated in a wine bereft of fruit. Overall dull and astringent, this bottle did not show the full potential of this wine. Perhaps there are better extant examples, but this was directionally consistent with bottles that I have had in recent years.
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2/18/2015 - BradE wrote:
First time I've ever had the 88, and this wine really spoke to me. Better than the 89 and 90 for my tastes, which I have have had a lot of. We were drinking blind, and it took us all a while to narrow this down. I loved it.
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2/18/2015 - rnellans wrote: 93 Points
Deep dark garnet with brown rim. Floral, Cassis, Currant. Big mid palate tannins. Good acid. Medium finish. Extract. Tobacco notes.
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1/23/2015 - MAOC wrote:
Drunk at home with venison. Decanted for around an hour by the time we ate. Ever-changing nose (also varying in intensity) of leather with hints of blackcurrant, cherry liqueur, herbs and undergrowth. The palate was stunning and intense - semi-sweet fruit, leather, meat, garrigue and a beautiful note of Asian soy which I remember from the last bottle. Becoming a bit more savoury over time. Tannins are essentially resolved and the mouthfeel is silky and layered. This is a feminine La Chapelle (in contrast to the 83 for example) and for me is beautiful Hermitage. Probably drink over the next 3 years but not essential. ***1/2-**** (nose) / ****1/2 (palate)
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1/10/2015 - Goldstone Likes this wine: 90 Points
Drank straight from the cellar with no decanting. Completely opaque purple-crimson colour with the merest water at the meiniscus. Nose of iron, lots of game, blood, black and red berries, high piano notes, tart redcurrants, fresh pomegranate….a really mesmerising nose. Similar palate in a tight, compact, confited form with more plum and fresh pomegranate than the nose and some impressive linearity and preciseness. Developed a distinctly savoury, meaty black Chinese mushroom element with more time in the glass. Good resonance and length with a light but very long reverberance inside the head on the finish like a long, high piano note. An elegant wine. Excellent……much to enjoy here but it definitely needs drinking up as the fruit is fading fast, especially with extended time in the glass. I shall drink my remaining bottles within the next 6-12 months.
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12/1/2014 - Vinterest Angus wrote: 92 Points
A good wine but well past its prime.
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9/30/2014 - j30 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Slightly more youthful and fruit driven than last bottle but otherwise similar characteristics.
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8/26/2014 - Goldstone Likes this wine: 88 Points
Ruby-jewel translucent colour. Nose is.....gosh, fresh-rained red soil, high piano notes of freshly-applied nail varnish, very high-toned, almost 'resonant' on the nose.....very fumey. Palate is fresh, great acidic attach, lots of tannin still. Mounting after-resonance long after the finish - an almost everlasting finale. Much more tart than the previous two bottles drank from this case - but heady like a Barolo. Got better with time but still kept rather thin and was disappointing compared to the previous two occasions, where it really sang.
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7/6/2014 - Goldstone Likes this wine: 95 Points
Sunday Dinner (The Library, Crown Wine Cellars, Hong Kong): Semi transparent brightly jeweled lambs blood colour. Nose is gourgeously silkily seductive red fruits and red fruit compote, horse stables, wet gun dog fur. Palate is amazingly fresh and alive, vibrant, lots of red currents and blueberries. Quite tannic but gives it great structure. Feminine, not muscular. Very layered and light....like rose water. Lovely light but long resonance. Compelling. Mesmerizing. Absolutely at its peak drinking window. Just short of silence-creating.
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5/12/2014 - sharonandroland wrote: flawed
Corked
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2/1/2014 - johnh1001 wrote: 90 Points
Very funky on the nose with sweet black fruit on the palate. Lots of earth. Medium depth and finish. Perhaps not the best example.
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1/18/2014 - fclarity wrote: 92 Points
Tasted blind, this wine had a red/purple center with oranging rims. The medium+ intensity nose of cherries, roasted meat, and red soil was nice.
In the mouth, this was medium bodied with great balance and medium length. This still tastes a bit young and could have some upside versus my score. It will easily last 10+ years.
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12/27/2013 - WoodieBayArea wrote: 93 Points
decided to try my new Coravin opener on this bottle, took out one large glass, fantastic right out of the gate, nose is strawberry, bacon on the griddle and herbs, palate is big fruit on attack and mid palate with plenty of acid to balance, tons of smoke too, finish is long with lots of perfume / floral notes… will add later if changed
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11/18/2013 - bestdamncab Likes this wine: 95 Points
Lovely nose of barnyard, leather, smoke, mocha java coffee, and spice, more of the same on the palate, little dry on the palate, not quite as good as the nose, medium/big body, velvety taste, long finish. My second place of 4 Rhones tasted, two first place votes.
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9/27/2013 - nortonnose Likes this wine: 92 Points
Sadly, my final bottle of this. The previous one with Reptibark showed better than this one. Agree with his and Leve's descriptions and assessments below. Stood bottle for 24 hrs, then double decanted, poured and served by itself. Initial brief funk blew off and its character was revealed: fully mature, gamey, complex Hermitage. Drink up!
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8/18/2013 - j30 wrote: 94 Points
Just starting to brink at the edge. Nose was complex and kept changing - started with tobacco, tea leave and savory note, followed by tons of fruit, white pepper, mushroom and preserved plum. Palate was still youthful with loads of fruit and spice. Still has some grip towards a long, spicy finish.
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8/3/2013 - Goldstone Likes this wine: 94 Points
Angela's Belated Birthday Dinner (Crown Wine Cellars, 18 Deep Water Bay Drive, Shouson Hill, Hong Kong): Opened but not decanted for 4 hours before serving and then drank over 2 hours with French cheeses. Deep, translucent plum-red colour. Nose is plush, white chocolate, beef blood, coffee grounds, increasingly rich white chocolate....hedonistic and alluring...wow! Palate is initially coffee grounds mixed with white chocolate, lots of spice in the fresh-ground nutmeg spectrum. Very heady but rounded. Fully mature. Muscular and masculine but somehow in touch with its feminine side. Wonderful and is clearly drinking at its peak. I'm very impressed. Rich, plummy, unctuous plums come out with a lot of time in the glass. Good length and a final resonance of beef broth. The first of a case we bought recently for near-term drinking...very happy with it.
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4/28/2013 - Thracian Alvarinho Likes this wine: 96 Points
Great La Chapelle. Sweet Fruits, very complex and long minerally finish.
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4/4/2013 - ucbeau Likes this wine: 93 Points
Opened with aromas of roasted meat and nuts, garrigue, dried black plum and cherry. As it developed, a beautiful leathery note presented itself, mixing with loamy soil and peppercorn. The finish was lengthy and gentle, but still retained enough acidity to stay clean. As the wine evolved in my glass, it actually became a bit riper in fruit but the ever-present leather and soil notes were great foils.
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2/8/2013 - Reptibark Likes this wine: 92 Points
My first experience with a La Chapelle and I can't wait for another. It was a touch closed at first sniff, and I was a bit distracted, so I put it aside for a few hours. Periodically I'd go back to it and I think it was hour three that seemed the most magical. I got a lot of soy, terriyaki, mint, black fruit and soft tannins. I don't think it has a long life ahead so if you've got any, start drinking. And enjoying.
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2/7/2013 - nortonnose Likes this wine: 93 Points
Chainthroer was right :) Indeed I had high expectations, and this almost lived up to all of them. My very first La Chapelle, and it was lovely. Stood upright for over an hour, then PnP fr 750ml. First few minutes was overly tart with cherry and candy; that blew off within minutes. Garnet color, fading a touch (2mm miniscus). Slightly muted nose, but plenty there on the palate: fresh berry with a hint of cocoa and baking spice. Medium-plus finish. Just an all-around well-rounded drink at this age. NB: the glass I set aside for 5 hours after the initial pour was arguably the best of the bunch.
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12/29/2012 - bza wrote:
This is fully mature and clearly not one of the best vintages of this wine, but still alive and neat with food. Medium bodied, mouth watering acid and soft tannins, but maybe lacking some concentration. Iron, meat gravy and soy notes on the palate. Drink it soon.
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12/8/2012 - Will Devize wrote: 96 Points
This magnificent Hermitage is as rugged as it is seductive, combining liquorice allsorts, sweet red fruits, undergrowth and menthol in one entirely complete mouthful. The structure is firm but relaxed, allowing the bucolic flavours to mingle viscerally before a pure, unmistakeable note of tobacco rings out on the grainy finish. Very long, complex and effortless. Wonderful stuff.
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5/3/2012 - Jeff Leve wrote: 93 Points
Wet earth, rocks, cherry griotte, spice, charcoal, licorice, raspberry jam and fresh Provencal herbs create the aromatics. Soft, fleshy, mineral driven and filled with sweet cherries and iron in the finish. There is a touch of austerity, but that does not detract from the pleasure. This is mature and while there is no hurry to drink it, it might not have a lot of room for improvement.
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1/20/2012 - LWI wrote: flawed
A Weekend in Excess; 1/20/2012-1/21/2012 (Trondheim, Norway): Spicy with some mint, slightly floral; warm fruit, more spices in the mouth, round and pleasing. Lacking a bit in length, should have been more focused, fades in the glass. Not an optimal bottle.
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12/28/2011 - Tony Molester wrote:
Opened an hour prior. Decanted for 15-30 minutes. Immaculate cork.
N: Tremendous, earth, smoke, red meat, leather.
P: Palate follows similar to nose, with an impressive ferrous bloody taste, some red fruit, a slight touch of meatiness. An absolutely grand wine, and a personal highlight of the past few years.
I adored the elegance combined with the fur/animal element that was very present on the palate.
Had over amazing osso bucco.
Outstanding wine, 13% abv.
Still plenty of life left.
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9/3/2011 - Marc wrote: 95 Points
Wonderful wine in early to mid maturity. Intense liqueur-like nose of pure black fruits - currants, berries and doris plums. Classic Hermitage nose of saddle leather, smoke, minerals and undergrowth. In the mouth medium to full body with a firm structure and mass which is kept lithe due to the acid balance. The tannins are front of mouth fruit tannins that come across as grippy fresh fennel flavours. The last of the old-school La Chapelles. This is not a modern, oaked, plush wine but rather an outstanding wine that impresses with its intense fruit purity. This has years ahead of it - bottles in this condition should last till 40 years of age, I would think. Further upside potential.
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7/20/2011 - Alex H wrote: 90 Points
Some chicken poop fresh violets and mineral ashy black
Currants. Some smoke and ash with tar but good fruits and lithe. Still good
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7/8/2011 - Mingmong wrote: 95 Points
Earth, blueberries, violets, such a pretty bouquet. Ripe blueberries distinct on the palate with some cherries at the end. Great balance of fruit and tannins for an excellent wine.
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7/8/2011 - Paul S wrote: 95 Points
Oh What a Night! aka Kelvin's Stag Party (Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck, Paragon): This was absolutely brilliant - even better than the last bottle I had. What a wonderful nose here, it was rather subtle in its nuanced aromas and yet really generous at the same time in classic La Chapelle style, full of complex aromas of cassis and black cherries, earth and spice, a bit of woodiness, all interwoven into an incredible bouquet. The palate was drinking at peak. It had a lovely clarity to its pure dark cherries and berries, a gentle but persistent underlayer of earth, mineral, meat, and then spice, tobacco and smoke, unfurling into a really long, beautiful finish wrapped in velvety tannins. While this had the same sense of integration and wholeness that I loved with the last bottle, it also showed a greater layered complexity that made it both delicious and immensely interesting. Textured, complex, balanced, complete, a lovely wine that was just such a pleasure to drink. With a bit of wok-fried suckling pig flank - heaven.
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6/26/2011 - sharonandroland wrote: 93 Points
What a nose - herbs, spices, sandlewood, an explosion. much lighter on the palate.
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5/6/2011 - Anthony Lombardi wrote:
Northern Rhone Dinner 2 vintages of La Chappelle, Landonne, Voge (Seattle, WA): Beautiful color despite the age. Dark maroon with a bricked edge. Beautiful nose showing red fruit, some green pepper, and floral notes. A few secondary components around (olive brine), but this has a ton of room to evolve. Perfect balance and palate weight. Red fruit, good acidity, savory components. Just singing. Tannins have mostly resolved, but some grip still persists. Long, floral finish.
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4/21/2011 - Rani wrote: 94 Points
Tasted blind next to the 1997 La Chapelle (which wasn't blind for me because it was my wine).
Barnyard stench at first. Blew off to reveal an elegant nose of red stone fruit and hung meat. Excellent wine but I felt it lacked the power of the 1997 (perhaps an age thing - after all it's 9 years older). Ready to drink.
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3/19/2011 - Umay Ceviker wrote: 94 Points
Tasted this at dinner without decanting, nevertheless observed through a period of three hours. Ruby with a garnet rim. Though showing reductive notes initially this one displays layer upon layer of complex aromas like savoury, animal notes, leather, green olives and truffles along with black fruit. Greatness is there definitely on the palate. Still fruity with parallel barnyard notes, horsey flavours as on the nose.
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3/17/2011 - Hodby wrote: 90 Points
Medium red, pale edged. Somewhat restrained nose, of floral notes, bacon, tar. Medium-light tannin, medium-low acidity. Decent concentration for 22 year old syrah from N-Rhone, but disappointing given the producer and cuvee. Zingy acidity on the finish. Bottle #3 of four.
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1/22/2011 - psmith wrote:
Youthful. Medium bodied brambly fruit and spice. Still somewhat wrapped up and unforgiving. A bit of a hole in the midpalate. Enjoyable.
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12/26/2010 - tbabes wrote: flawed
Although the fill was into the neck and the cork was sound, this bottle was a bit sickly, with the wine exhibiting tired and slightly oxidized aromas and flavors
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12/9/2010 - Yagil Likes this wine: 92 Points
Hermitage evening (The Traklin Wine-Bistro): (at The Traklin wine-bistro) The cork broke during corking and red spots reached its top. The color tended towards red-brown.
The aroma revealed considerable secondary nuances, beautiful complex nose of black cherries, underbrush, bacon, smoke as well as abundant aromas of cedar, damp forest, spice box, and Asian spices.
Medium to full-bodied on the palate with medium acidity and soft residual tannins, deep earthy, meaty notes, some roasted red meat, black olives, loamy earth and just a little under layer of dark fruit. The middle palate is full, with flavors mirroring the nose.
Finish was long & well put together, quite nicely long as well, transitioning seamlessly into a silkily elegant glide of ripe dark fruits. May not have the complexity of a truly great wine, but a joy to drink nevertheless. It seemed that the wine was at peak or a bit beyond.
The wine was more pleasurable aromatically than on the palate.
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11/28/2010 - sharonandroland wrote: 88 Points
Barnyard, maybe bottle shocked. Did not show as well as expected.
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9/14/2010 - presterjohn Likes this wine:
v full fruit, chunky. vv good
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9/14/2010 - Rupert wrote: 93 Points
Hermitage dinner - Jaboulet La Chapelle and JL Chave (The Ledbury, London): Lean and sharp, smoke, bacon, gloriously brothy and, at last, a PJA with a bit of bite
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8/19/2010 - PC73 Likes this wine: 90 Points
Slightly tawny in appearance.
On the nose, we got cherry, rhubarb, stewed plums, slightly savoury.
On the palate was beef stock, boiled cherry, plum. Overall soft and chewy tannins, good acidity, slightly smoky. Finish lasted 45secs +.
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8/15/2010 - La Cave d'Argent wrote: 93 Points
This wine was serially tasted over two hours at a private walk-around wine and food event, having been aerated in decanter for at least a couple of hours prior to initial tasting. The wine was brought by another taster (Ken Johnson). Although a formal note was not written contemporaneously, it can be said that this deep-garnet gem has a beautiful complex nose of black cherries, underbrush, bacon and smoke. Full-bodied on the palate with medium acidity and soft residual tannins. The middle palate is full, with flavors mirroring the nose. Very long finish. This wine is drinking beautifully at this point. Drink now-12/17.
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8/8/2010 - tbabes wrote: 93 Points
The fill was perfect and the cork was sound; opened about 1 hour prior to service, but no decant. Still a youthful purple core, turning to ruby at the rim. Notes of crispy pork fat, ripe dark fruits, tree bark and spice. Medium to full bodied, with impressive concentration, loads of flavor, and good focus on the finish. Not the most complex La Chapelle, but a very good and solid bottle of Syrah; should age well for years to come. Went perfectly with the Flannery Pork Chops!
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6/7/2010 - Jeff Leve wrote: 94 Points
Popped and poured into a decanter and served, the complex perfume offered black cherry, licorice, earth. bacon fat, iron, underbrush, spearmint and warm spices. Full bodied and concentrated with ample levels of dark fruit, the texture is soft, chewy and mouth filling. The finish ends with baked black berry flavors paired with minerals and spice. The only thing stopping the score from hitting a few points higher was the finish could have been longer. The wine improved in the glass over 2 hours spent at dinner. This will get better. I'd buy this over the 89 today.
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5/11/2010 - Rupert wrote: 91 Points
Hermitage La Chapelle - complete vertical 1961-2005 (Institute of Directors, London): Spice and cedar and herbs, sharp, attractively so, some grip - a nice mature hermitage
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5/11/2010 - Eric wrote:
On point. Meat and mushroom. Supple. Not a huge wine but very supple and round.
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4/25/2010 - Alex H wrote: 89 Points
WGS: Paul Jaboulet La Chapelle (St Regis): Fine aged leather, barnyardish and almost burg like with its earthiness, dark florals and undergrowth compote. A complete wine with juicy cool bright fruits of dark red raspberries, hints of spices. All nicely balanced and really drinking at its peak. Drink now! for the maximum enjoyment.
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4/20/2010 - astroman wrote:
Slightly corked on the first pour. On the second pour, good acid with dried fruits on the palate. Tannins still there but mostly dissolved.
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4/20/2010 - Paul S wrote: 94 Points
Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle Vertical - 2007, '05, '04, 1997, '91, '88, '85, '82, 1976 (St Regis, Singapore): My favourite wine of the evening. This was an absolutely seamless beauty. Very traditional on the nose, it showed musky, meaty notes, some roasted red meat, black olives, loamy earth and just a little underlayer of dark fruit. A bit reductive at first, with whiffs of slightly-turned eggs, but that blew off quite quickly. I thought where this wine really shone was on the palate. Integrated, seamless, it was just a lovely melange of ripe plush fruit - blue and blackberries - and deep earthy, meaty notes, all interwoven with nice acidity and velvety tannins. It was all so nicely packed that the wine just washed across the mid-palate in a lovely show of freshness and life. Finish was every bit as well put together, and quite nicely long as well, transitioning seamlessly into a silkily elegant glide of ripe dark fruits. May not have the complexity of a truly great wine, but a joy to drink nevertheless. I think this is at peak and will probably hold there for some time.
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4/13/2010 - Dave Dalluge wrote: 94 Points
'88 Northern Rhones at Siggy's: The odd-ball of the group but a sentimental favorite of mine. The nose is exotic and protean in nature, featuring red cherry fruit, licorice, some funk and a strong minerality. On the palate this delivers expansive flavors of red fruit with smoke and mineral. Smooth and elegant with great balance. Excellent finish. A surprisingly strong showing for this wine among three more highly regarded Northern Rhone.
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4/5/2010 - noppakit s. wrote: 92 Points
You have to be with it 3-4 hours to see what it can be. The wine has changed the smell almost every 15-30 mins, a mineral of Chateau Ausone, a Haut-Brion typical scents, sometime hints of chalk, earth and sometime perfume. The acidity's telling me...this wine just ready to drink and can holds on for another 15-20 years from now.
Reminds me the outstanding 1978.
Truly good wine that contains many layers and dimensions. Moreover, it's a delicious wine with a wonderful finished.
I love Hermitage La Chapelle !!!
Drink 2011 - 2030+.............................92+/100..............................
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3/25/2010 - austinwinesalon wrote:
Definitive Rhone (Fabi and Rosi European Kitchen Austin, Texas): Richer in body than the 1987, but also showing signs of age, this wine will probably never drink better than right now. Rich on the nose, with cedar and game, this wine was solid and tannic, and had a tea component (like our 1987, but the tea was steeped longer). We tasted leather, tar, pork, grilled herbs, sweet red fruit, stewed cranberry sauce, cassis, dried herbs, graphite, violets, and cedar. It had a smoke character, was harmonious. One taster likened it to a 1988 Leoville Las Cases.
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2/19/2010 - fred112 wrote: 92 Points
Beautiful. Fruit, leather.
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1/7/2010 - markellen.foodies@gmail.com wrote: 91 Points
FRENCH BAKERY Northern Rhone BYO Dinner; 1/6/2010-1/7/2010 (The French Bakery Cafe, 1023 Kane Concourse, Bay Harbor Islands, FL): Bob H's wine. 3 of 10 1sts, ave 90.6. Charlie, 94 - some brett, great balance, forest mushrooms. Mark(me), 92 - Light sweet brett, good balance, pepper anise notes. Jason, 91 - 1st.
Carlos, 91 - Blood red clear color; nose- smoky, alcohol; Taste- big, nutty, meaty.Jerry, 92(2nd). David, 90 - Barnyard, blew off. Nice balance. Bob M, 91(2nd). Bob H, 86(3rd) - Cote Rotie? Craig, 2nd - Full bodied, with good overall depth. Roberta, 3rd.
Ellen - "Pas Pour Moi!"
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12/22/2009 - keith prothero wrote: 92 Points
Lovely nose of pepper and spices. Still obviously very young but I am pleased I have invested in a case of this wine. Think in time it could be nearly as good as the 90 and certainly in the same class as the 91. By advise is buy but hold for another 5 years or so. Excellent
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11/17/2009 - David J Cooper wrote:
Lighter then the 90 but still pretty dark. Funky, pepper, cassis and eucalyptus nose. Very dry flavours, but not dried out. Excellent. Loved the nose on this one.
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11/16/2009 - godx wrote: 93 Points
Jaboulet La Chapelle Dinner (Vancouver, BC): On the nose, this is much dirtier than the ’90 with strong aromas of barnyard floor, bacon fat, tobacco, cherries and slight hints of eucalyptus. Softer in the mouth than the ’90. Medium to full body with medium to high tannins, medium acidity and lengthy finish. While this is drinking extremely well right now I think this will get even better with a few more years. Outstanding. 93+
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6/30/2009 - reichken wrote: flawed
WIMPs N Rhone Lunch (The Ledbury, London): well finally a bad bottle. some floral and violet competing with a musty smell for nose space. flat and fruitless in the mouth, short clipped finish. oh well
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6/24/2009 - Papies wrote: 94 Points
This is not for the faint hearted or the impatient .Please take note of the following. Decanted the wine at 3pm on Sunday. By dinner 5 hours later the wine was closed , flat not really what expected. HOWEVER and thankfully we kept some in a small decanter and tried it again the day after. Almost 30hours later we tried it again and now this is what we paid for. An outstanding wine with big body and finish like a train. Big fruits on the back with hints of liquorice. Tannins were still there and this felt like a wine that had a lot more to give. Please please if you have a bottle decant for 12hrs plus else you run the risk of drinking a closed wine.
Drank it on summer solstice and it was a fitting wine. If you have some lucky you
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5/17/2009 - MHildbold wrote: 94 Points
I personally haven't liked a vintage after 1991, when Phillipe Jaboulet took over from Jacques Jaboulet as director of the estate. Many of the pre-1990 vintages are available on auction for under $150 (with the exception of the 1961). The '88 was delightful- very characteristic hermitage aromas of damp earth, dried violets, leather, game meats, blood, and dried red and black fruits. Didn't like this as much as the 1980 I had 6 months ago, but still great.
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5/12/2009 - Rupert wrote: 93 Points
At St Alban and from a magnum: Beautiful, fully mature, sweet edged syrah, fragrant, powerful and gamey
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4/29/2009 - Dave Dalluge wrote: 94 Points
Leoville Las Cases at My House: The nose shows a hint of brett, but delivers big and expressive flavors of black fruit, coffee, smoke, and saddle leather that are really impressive. In the mouth this seems full-bodied with dark fruit and earth dominating the flavors. Expansive, balanced and an excellent long finish. I'm glad to have one more bottle in the cellar...
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11/29/2008 - SimonG wrote:
Hermitage La Chapelle Wine-Pages Offline (Vinoteca, Smithfield, London): Completely different nose. More mocha. Coffee cream. Wow, this is a youngster. Deep, dark fruit, tannin and acidity. Similar age profile to the 2001. This is very good but such a youngster. Tighter and younger version of the 89. ****(*)
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11/23/2008 - Stefanos T. wrote: 91 Points
Garnet colored.
Nose fully mature but much younger than the 1998, with cigar smoke, cigarette ash on
a background of plummy fruit and graphite minerality.
Palate is beautiful, mature, complex and long.
A good La Chapelle but drink now.
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11/23/2008 - mimik wrote:
Again, another stellar wine that did not show well at all. Bottle variation? Maybe it was more prevalent then than it is today. Who know? It was thin and acidic showing very little fruit. Marginally better than the 1997 had at the same tasting.
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11/6/2008 - ziavino wrote: 93 Points
Not as much earth and tart fruit on the nose like the '83, rather this has powerful, ripe berry aromas. Not as complex, but more hedonistic than the '83. Lush, great mouthfeel with a dominant palate of ripe dark fruit. The spice and earth are there, but are integrated seamlessly in the background. Very nice.
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10/7/2008 - Jeff W wrote:
Bought a few bottles in auction, provenance unknown, but I am happy with the first. This is a very fine Hermitage, just starting to show some maturity. As is usual, it wants LOTS of air. Classic Northern Rhone Syrah, with spices and meat, and succulent tannins. dg-
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8/29/2008 - Charlie Carnes wrote: 96 Points
Beautiful dark red black color. First nose is slight orange peel, cinnamon, and cherry sea breeze. There is another smell like an aromatic root or nutmeg that is really awesome. Is there sandlewood? This wine is really good. In the mouth there are plenty of tannins, searing tannins. There is also a tart cherry feel -almost Burgundian- that I really like. A real treat. The nose on this one is 100 points, but in the mouth it looses a little, still great. The finish is quite nice as well. 94 at first
Added 8/30/2008 Four hours later the wine has become sublime. I mean, the tannins have become so sweet and smooth. All bitterness has disappeared and there is a candied but firm red and dark fruits attack that is remarkable. Changed to a 96
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8/29/2008 - Charlie Carnes wrote: flawed
Too Bad. There were some great aromas of minty red fruit... along with an obvious cork mustiness.
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6/29/2008 - slogan wrote: 95 Points
Brought by HRL, drank this with coffee-rubbed ribeyes. Fantastic, though incredibly still young and tannic. This is a great wine, with room to go.
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5/30/2008 - rjonwine@gmail.com wrote: 95 Points
Morel Mushroom Madness at the Plumed Horse (The Plumed Horse Restaurant, Saratoga, California): Medium red violet color with pale meniscus; beef jus and prime rib nose; tasty, concentrated but elegant beef jus and liquid pepper palate; long finish 95+ pts.
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2/5/2008 - rjonwine@gmail.com wrote: 92 Points
Syrah Tasting Dinner (Stephen Gold's home, San Francisco, California): Medium dark red color with clear meniscus and floating sediment; bacon and roast lamb nose; tangy and a little tight, smoke, tart red fruit, tomato sauce palate; medium-plus finish 92+ pts.
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1/26/2008 - wineamateur wrote: 90 Points
Deep ruby fading to oranging red at the rim. Gorgeous nose of violets, dark stone fruits, thyme and iron (blood/liver). Austere but at the same time quite warming. The same austerity on the palate, and somewhat angular with some still-pronounced clay-like tannins, but mouthfilling and textured with some nice sweet fruit on the long, long finish.
[Much better than the 89 also tasted recently, from the same storage.]
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1/13/2008 - IAMVLAD wrote: 89 Points
atlanta blue nose group hermitage tasting which included 88,89,90 chave, 88, 89, 90 jaboulet la chappelle, 89, 90, 91 sorrell le greal and 89, 90, 91 chapoutier pavillon. weakest of the la chappelles but still a fine wine. nice fruit just lacked the richness of the next two vintages.
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12/11/2007 - CamWheeler wrote: 86 Points
Blackberry, cherry and earthy aromas. Acid presents itself on the palate and leaves a slightly tart sensation. Medium length. Not bad, better than our last bottle of this (which was corked!) but looking a bit tired.
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9/3/2007 - CamWheeler wrote: flawed
Corked
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4/15/2007 - Jeff Leve wrote: 94 Points
Light ruby color. The nose offers an intoxicating perfume of earth, jammy black fruits, spice, brown sugar and black pepper. The 88 La Chapelle sports a great syrupy texture. It's a very full bodied, rich, mouth filling wine with some tannins remaining to resolve. The palate is caressed by soft, elegant, velvety, thick streams of cherry, blackberry & plum flavors which fill the mouth.
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2/11/2007 - Rupert wrote: 89 Points
Figgy, farmyard and spicy, full and rich on the palate, lots of savoury fruit, but sweet too, a hint of cardboard, very decent syrah, but more like a very good Thalabert than a La Chapelle
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2/10/2007 - peternelson wrote: 89 Points
Anita: Beaut. nose w/tertiary compnents: wet leather, barn, earthy, hint tar, truffles maybe; med. bod mth--integrated t’s, hint sour cherry, lush old blkberry; Just a bit past prime, but grt w/beef stew. Let it air for 20-30 min--got better. A very earth driven wine that in a 375 has peaked already.
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12/25/2006 - humagne wrote: flawed
tired and overly acidic. Cork was stained to top.
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12/25/2006 - humagne wrote: flawed
tired, acidic. Did not drink
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12/21/2006 - hwallace3000K wrote: flawed
flat
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11/4/2006 - antiwood wrote: flawed
Usual Suspects: corked
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10/9/2006 - baroloboy55 wrote: 91 Points
Very fine but surprisingly mature. Elegant, rich, warm,clearly very well made French Syrah. Elegant. But never came around and knocked me on the head.
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5/30/2006 - Russell Faulkner wrote: 92 Points
Just showing a little age, lots of minerals and a silky texture, very pure and precise with soft dark fruit and boiled meat. Delicious.
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4/21/2006 - jrufusj wrote:
TTG#7: Hamina Comes to Town (and we all drink good wine) (Keyaki Grill at Capital Tokyu; La Fève Wine Bar (Tokyo)): Attractive rust color. Nose shows forest floor, a wee bit of game, dried cherry fruit and little leather. Palate is largely gentle and resolved with more cherry, some lean plum, and just a touch of spice. Finish is of decent length and reintroduces the leather and forest. Blind, a large group of us all guessed Burg. I attribute this partially to the fact that we’d been drinking a lot of pinot that night and partially to the way the nose played out. Told it was Rhone, I guessed Jaboulet Thalabert. Close, but no cigar. So much for my street cred as a Burg guy. Good wine, but I wouldn’t necessarily chase it hard.
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1/13/2006 - ChillyWino wrote: 91 Points
Upon opening the aromas jumped out of the bottle, Pepper, spice, tobacco, earth, smoke, meat, and dark fruit. It really seemed like the wine wanted to jump out of the bottle. This is a 100 point nose!! We poured small tastes and put the rest in the decanter. Most everything followed through on the first taste, with some nice tannin and and a hint of too much acid(tartness). The wine felt lush, and smooth and had a very nice finish. About 1/2 hour later we poured a glass to have with Beef Stew. The wine seemed to have become disjointed because the acid/tartness became more dominant, with tart fruits and licorice dominate on the palate. I set it aside an dcame back to it 1/2 hour later. It was starting to come back together, with a incredible nose again of Earth, Tobacco, Smoke, and chared meats and fruits. This all followed through, but at the end of the finish the tartness was still there. We continued to sip on this for 2 more hours without much of a change. Great nose, good wine, but the tart/acidic finish brings down the wine.
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10/29/2005 - andrewstevenson.com wrote: 91 Points
Quite young-looking. The nose is very mushroomy. Nicely evolved. Not bad at all. Good finesse. Very Good Indeed.
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10/26/2005 - Burgundy Al wrote: 91 Points
Earthy, barnyard aromas with some lingering black fruit. Big flavors balance remaining fruit with earthiness and black pepper and spice. Moderate length and finish. Better than another bottle from earlier this year.
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10/12/2005 - antiwood wrote:
Dan's 25th anniversary (store opening). Only got a couple of samples from 30"-2 hours after opening .. needed more time. Dark violet, slight amber tinge at edge but very fresh appearance. White pepper, tobacco. Elegant, clean and lovely. This is not a voluptuous Hermitage but goes that great direction where there is intensity and concentration without size. Surprisingly youthful, fresh and crisp acidity with a soft tannic backbone for balance. Beautiful and clean finish. I rather liked this a lot, especially the second sample which had opened up quite a bit. This does not approach the '83 for wildness or the '90 for fruit but is livelier than the '85 and goes more the route of Burgundy in it's quiet and velvet presence.
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10/1/2005 - The Wine Bum wrote:
A Lunch: Pichon 85 Chapelle 88 Tart 00: One of the last bottles of lunch so suffered a little with palate fatigue. Still lovely, very feminine, a characteristic I always forget when thinking about Hermitage, stinky fruit and leather on the nose and wonderful symmetry. Balanced, poised and thoughtful.
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9/11/2005 - Eric wrote: 91 Points
Well this is certainly a nice, relatively mature Hermitage. The nose is beautiful with smokey notes of roasted meat, and sharp, spicy notes, maybe the ubiquitous 'Asian Spice' that I see people refer to although perhaps a little closer to cinnamon (but not quite as sharp). Anyway, this is lovely to smell up close and from a distance, as the decanter literally fills the room with a gorgeous bouquet that goes beyond what I can describe. The palate is a bit less giving. There is not a huge amount of fruit, although I detect some nice grilled plums and a generally ripe, black fruit profile that is somewhat dominated by mineral notes and some black pepper. I wish I was a little more floored by this wine, but the memory of several tastes of the voluptuous 1990 La Chapelle leaves this lithe little beauty in the gutter by comparison. I prefer the more layered, fleshy and ripe profile of the 1990 by a longshot.
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9/1/2005 - winefool wrote: 94 Points
I was a bit concerned when the waiter decanted this almost immediately upon arrival and left it in the wide decanter. Turns out it was a great move as this wine is still pretty tight (and certainly has a long life ahead). Full deep red/black color. Lovely forward aroma of black fruit and spice with a hint of matchstick. Rich lovely black fruit with some spiciness on the palate. Opened up even more in the glass through the evening. Very nice. 94 points. 9/05
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7/10/2005 - JasonD wrote: flawed
Northern Rhones with Guillaume Deschamps and Richard Beeken in Seattle (Kaspar's): Corked
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4/29/2005 - Will wrote:
La Chapelle verticale (1978-2002) (Bad Ragaz, Switzerland): The nose shows some tertiary notes - first wine to do so in the whole line-up! The mouth is really fine and elegant while still being quite concentrated and powerful. Definitely ready to drink and will give good pleasure. Very "gourmand" - not at all the "bruiser" style.
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3/15/2005 - PhDP wrote: 92 Points
Hermitage La Chapelle (INAO Vin-Passion, Bruxelles, Belgium): Nez complexe: tabac, chocolat, "bordelais",
Bouche puissante, précise, un peu plus évoluée que le précédent, très belle longueur noble
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2/7/2005 - Burgundy Al wrote: 89 Points
Quite mature aromas of leather and barnyard. Fruit is less dominant than earthy flavors with some smoky spice as well. I didn't find this to work well with food.
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10/2/2004 - JasonD wrote: 87 Points
Tasted at Michael's Northern Rhone offline. Oxidized? Browning, aroma's of compost, earthy, cola, burnt Liquor. Short finish that died quickly.
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10/1/2004 - Eric wrote: 85 Points
Seattle Tasting Group does older Northern Rhône reds (Bellevue, WA, USA): Compost and forest floor rule here with a bit of an oxidized note. The palate shows soy and more sour components. However, this wine seemed damaged. Despite that, it was still an interest wine with nicely resolved mouthfeel.
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9/2/2004 - Jeff W wrote:
Notes
Full bodied, but surprisingly acidic. Tannic and delicious. dg
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1/24/2004 - Will wrote: 92 Points
Impressive nose on blackberries, black currant and more complex aromas of leather and tobacco. Very powerful, firm and focused tannins, big structure. As you can guess I really enjoyed it!
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9/27/2002 - Patrick wrote:
Dark – showing little in the way of age; still not of the caliber of the 1997 but very good; somewhat lost in company
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6/7/2002 - peternelson wrote: 91 Points
Weiner: Rusty red, tons of sediment; pleasant light pepper; some licorice, dark mint; spicey stems; nice med. heavy body, hi-note finish.
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2/22/1999 - Marc wrote: 93 Points
The La Chapelles were an interesting duo. I have always considered the 88 to be the better of the two wines and my opinion has not changed. However, I am concerned that the 89 showed much worse than I was expecting.
Thankfully the 88 held up the side. Less ripe on the nose, with less new oak influence, the 88 is a far more structured and gamey wine.At this time, much longer and complex than the 89, but will need a few more years in the cellar, in my opinion. A great La Chapelle - more old fashioned than the latest vintages have been.
I get the feeling that some of the Northern Rhone producers are trying to compete with Oz in the new oak sweepstakes, sometimes making compellimg wines, but other times just producing yet another innocuous international styled red.
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9/14/1990 - MicklethePickle Likes this wine: 89 Points
Tasted at Singer & Foy survey of new Rhones. One of the darkest wines of all. Black ruby; extremely attractive. Lovely, spicy nose, with loads of fruit. Jammy, blueberry. Great. In the mouth, good fruit, but not up to the complexity of the nose. Good. 5-13-14-7: 89/100.
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