1998 M. Chapoutier Hermitage Blanc Chante-Alouette

Community Tasting Notes (15) Avg Score: 88.4 points

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  9/25/2019 - Tony Molester Does not like this wine:

  Perfect cork, no sign of seepage.
  The wine was completely oxidised. I couldn’t detect blindfolded if this was an old chardonnay or marsanne. Awful and inadmissible.
  
  Avoid based on this single bottle.

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  5/5/2019 - swaap wrote: flawed

  Le vin est madérisé mais la matière en bouche est encore présente, la veille le vin était horrible limite bouchonné et le lendemain il s’est un peu amélioré mais quand même c’est pas l’hermitage.

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  12/17/2016 - aikane Likes this wine: 89 Points

  This is a wine that needs LOTS of air. The bouquet now has hints of honey and acacia blossoms, but the main impression is the smooth power on the palate, impressive and long but not particularly complex. We double decanted 8 hours before serving, and that seems to have been about right: the wine did have an aroma of oxidation, but that did not last the palate, where it was fresh, intense, with good acidity, and powerful. It would be interesting to sneak this in to a blind tasting of old white Riojas, where, I think, there would be a family resemblance but this wine would seem simpler and more powerful.

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  8/31/2013 - mclanew wrote: 89 Points

  Fully mature, golden color, but still vibrant. Licorice, pineapple, mineral. Drink up.

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  1/25/2013 - aikane wrote: 88 Points

  My last two experiences with this wine - four years ago and tonight - have been consistent. Upon opening, hard, strong, not much bouquet, intense but not at all seductive, a hint of oxidation but not exactly maderized, deep golden color. After 60 minutes of breathing in a decanter, much smoother, much fresher, still strong on the palate with a long aftertaste and a hint of lemon. After 90 minutes honey and white flowers appear in the bouquet, and the wine remains strong and refreshing on the palate. I now think that it will take 20-25 years from harvest to turn this into a complex and elegant wine, but its current capacity to change dramatically while breathing, in a predictable way, makes it very interesting. It is strong enough at all stages to stand up well to full-flavored, spicy food. Its first impression is off-putting, but it grows on you as it changes, smooths out, and adds dimensions of scent and taste. I would not want a lot of this in my cellar, but I am glad I have some of it, for it significantly expands the diversity of experience available. Someone who did not know how white Hermitage ages and behaves after opening could be completely deceived by the first impression after pulling the cork.

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View all 15 Community Tasting Notes

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