2015 M. Chapoutier Côtes du Roussillon Villages Les Vignes de Bila-Haut

WineAlign

• By Michael Godel
  6/6/2017, (See more on WineAlign...)

  (M. Chapoutier Les Vignes De Bila Haut Côtes De Roussillon, Ac red) Login and sign up and see review text.

• By David Lawrason
  6/5/2017, (See more on WineAlign...)

  (M. Chapoutier Les Vignes De Bila Haut Côtes De Roussillon, Ac red) Login and sign up and see review text.

• By John Szabo, MS
  5/30/2017, (See more on WineAlign...)

  (M. Chapoutier Les Vignes De Bila Haut Côtes De Roussillon, Ac red) Login and sign up and see review text.

Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Vintage of the Century (of the Month) II, 4/24/2017

  (Bila-Haut (Chapoutier) Cotes du Roussillon Villages Roug) Hello friends. Back in January, we had our first “Vintage of the Century (of the Month)” offer, highlighting the crazy hype for the 2015 vintage across Europe. In that offer, we featured Bila-Haut’s 2015 Cotes du Roussillon Rouge, which subsequently became one of our biggest January hits ever and a huge reorder target since. The success of that offer, especially in a typically sleepy month like January, underscored for me that we should expend some effort this year seeking out more excellent Euro-wines from the ’15 vintage. So that’s what we have today: two new ‘15s, as well as a reoffer of the Bila-Haut that kicked this program off. Before we dig into those, I’ll reprint what I wrote in January: ---- Hype. Short for hyperbole. It runs rampant in the wine trade. I vowed when starting Full Pull to try not to overdo it. Because, I mean really, if today I’m offering the GREATEST WINE I’VE EVER TASTED, what the hell am I supposed to say about tomorrow’s wine? The truth is: I love all my babies. Maybe not equally. But plenty of love. And yeah, I know I don’t always get it right, and sometimes enthusiasm crosses the line into hyperbole, but one thing I can promise you at least: it’s always on my mind to keep the hype in check and to offer you a clear-eyed look at the wines we’re offering. One of the places where wine hype is at its worst is with vintages. We’re seventeen years into this century, and I shudder to think of the number of vintages I’ve heard described as the “potential vintage of the century.” In Washington alone, I’ve heard folks toss out that phrase for 2003, 2005, 2007, 2012, and 2014. When 30% of vintages are the “vintage of the century,” we are squarely into hype territory. All of this is preamble to talk about the 2015 vintage in Europe. Hype heaven. It began as early as harvest time (see Decanter’s article: Europe’s 2015 wine harvest: On the verge of greatness?). And it has continued as even-handed folks like Jancis Robinson have begun compiling vintage reports. Some example quotes. Burgundy: Quality is looking extremely fine, with some people whispering comparisons with the outstanding 2005 vintage. Loire Valley: Very promising across the region, with the same warm, dry summer that many other French regions enjoyed. Languedoc-Rousillon: The hot weather produced plentiful ripeness, and potential quality is considered to be very promising at the top end. Northern Rhone: Universally viewed as a vintage with top quality potential. Bordeaux: Optimists are already calling it the best vintage since 2010 with early reports favouring the right bank. Those of us who enjoy Jancis for her restraint can pretty easily translate phrases like “very promising” into “what the [bleep] are you waiting for? buy buy buy!!!!” But still, I’m not going to go anywhere near calling it Europe’s VOTC™. For one thing, it’s waaaaaay too early. Most of the best wines are years away from release. And anyway, doesn’t it suffice to just call it an extremely promising vintage and then go out and taste the wines? ---- Again, I’ll tap the brakes and say: it’s still awfully early. But the data pointing towards an outstanding pan-European vintage are growing. Including the three data points below. Originally offered January 18, 2016. Excerpts from the original: This wine is a ridiculous value in mediocre vintages. In a fine vintage like 2015, it’s a sub-$15 wine that can help lay the foundation for a cellar. Jeb Dunnuck tasted it out of barrel last year, and he was, erm, a little excited. Wine Advocate: Copyrighted material withheld. We tasted this wine in late December, and even at the end of a long year of tasting, this wine easily cut through the clutter. One of those wines where Pat and I simultaneously taste the wine and look up at each other like: are you tasting what I’m tasting?!? The nose is a glorious, expressive mix of black fruit and black pepper, violets and braising beef. The palate (14.5% listed alc) is perhaps most impressive texturally, with noteworthy intensity and real palate-staining character. The complexity and length, the crushed-rock minerality, the quality of pleasure this brings to the table: all simply dazzle at a sub-$15 price point. If this is the vanguard of 2015 in Europe, I might be ready to clamber aboard the hype train.

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Vintage of the Century (of the Month), 1/18/2017

  (Bila-Haut (Chapoutier) Cotes du Roussillon Villages Roug) Hello friends. Hype. Short for hyperbole. It runs rampant in the wine trade. I vowed when starting Full Pull to try not to overdo it. Because, I mean really, if today I’m offering the GREATEST WINE I’VE EVER TASTED, what the hell am I supposed to say about tomorrow’s wine? The truth is: I love all my babies. Maybe not equally. But plenty of love. And yeah, I know I don’t always get it right, and sometimes enthusiasm crosses the line into hyperbole, but one thing I can promise you at least: it’s always on my mind to keep the hype in check and to offer you a clear-eyed look at the wines we’re offering. One of the places where wine hype is at its worst is with vintages. We’re seventeen years into this century, and I shudder to think of the number of vintages I’ve heard described as the “potential vintage of the century.” In Washington alone, I’ve heard folks toss out that phrase for 2003, 2005, 2007, 2012, and 2014. When 30% of vintages are the “vintage of the century,” we are squarely into hype territory. All of this is preamble to talk about the 2015 vintage in Europe. Hype heaven. It began as early as harvest time (see Decanter’s article: Europe’s 2015 wine harvest: On the verge of greatness?). And it has continued as even-handed folks like Jancis Robinson have begun compiling vintage reports. Some example quotes. Burgundy: Quality is looking extremely fine, with some people whispering comparisons with the outstanding 2005 vintage. Loire Valley: Very promising across the region, with the same warm, dry summer that many other French regions enjoyed. Languedoc-Rousillon: The hot weather produced plentiful ripeness, and potential quality is considered to be very promising at the top end. Northern Rhone: Universally viewed as a vintage with top quality potential. Bordeaux: Optimists are already calling it the best vintage since 2010 with early reports favouring the right bank. Those of us who enjoy Jancis for her restraint can pretty easily translate phrases like “very promising” into “what the [bleep] are you waiting for? buy buy buy!!!!” But still, I’m not going to go anywhere near calling it Europe’s VOTC™. For one thing, it’s waaaaaay too early. Most of the best wines are years away from release. And anyway, doesn’t it suffice to just call it an extremely promising vintage and then go out and taste the wines? One nice aspect of Full Pull is that we have certain wines we offer year in and year out. Those wines give us an easy prism through which to view the effects of vintage. One of the first such wines that we taste each vintage is Bila-Haut, Chapoutier’s Roussillon project. And if this wine is any indication (and here I’ll slip into Jancisese), 2015 is very promising indeed. Originally offered January 18, 2016. Excerpts from the original: This wine is a ridiculous value in mediocre vintages. In a fine vintage like 2015, it’s a sub-$15 wine that can help lay the foundation for a cellar. Jeb Dunnuck tasted it out of barrel last year, and he was, erm, a little excited. Wine Advocate: Copyrighted material withheld. We tasted this wine in late December, and even at the end of a long year of tasting, this wine easily cut through the clutter. One of those wines where Pat and I simultaneously taste the wine and look up at each other like: are you tasting what I’m tasting?!? The nose is a glorious, expressive mix of black fruit and black pepper, violets and braising beef. The palate (14.5% listed alc) is perhaps most impressive texturally, with noteworthy intensity and real palate-staining character. The complexity and length, the crushed-rock minerality, the quality of pleasure this brings to the table: all simply dazzle at a sub-$15 price point. If this is the vanguard of 2015 in Europe, I might be ready to clamber aboard the hype train.