TN: Northern Rhones at Racines

A nice group gathered at Racines on Chambers Street last night to drink some Northern Rhone reds. My first time at Racines, and I totally enjoyed, though it was a little sad to be BYOing with that great list. As we gathered, 3 whites made the rounds

1998 Chave Hermitage Blanc
I’m not a big fan of Rhone whites, but this was pretty lovely, Wax, honey, flowers, powerful and full but not heavy. B+/A-

1997 Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape blanc
Deep golden color, seemed quite advanced. Surprisingly, I thought much better as it got air and got warm, seemed less oxidized and more honied. B/B-

2013 Lise & Bertand Jousset Singulier “Clos Aux Renard” Montlouis
Crisp, nervy, dry, with wax and wool and excellent length.B+

We had an amuse of cauliflower veloute, good but not very cauliflowery

2000 Verset Cornas
Pretty forward, nice depth, herby with a stemmy note, meaty, good length. A-

1995 Verset Cornas
Lots of smoked meat, great acids, earth and flowers. A-/B+

My appetizer was lobster stuffed squash blossom with morcilla and carrot foam, really very tasty

2001 Voge Cornas VV
Brambly berry fruit, cow patty, spice. . Some brett, but a strain that appeals to me.A-/B+

1998 Voge Cornas VV
Earth, pasture, black fruits. Nice texture on the finish. A-

Suzanne had a great idea, we split several orders of fregola “risotto” with chanterelles on top, very wine friendly

1988 Jaboulet “La Chapelle” Hermitage
Black fruit,bacon, pepper, not a big vintage of La Chapelle but quite elegant. A-

1996 Jaboulet “La Chapelle” Hermitage
A bit riper, earthy, forest floor. B+

My main was the porcelet with squash and some delicious ricotta agnolotti


1998 Vallouit “ Les Roziers” Cote-Rotie
New one to me. Peppery, a little tart (Bill calls sour), slightly clipped. B-

1998 Jamet Cote-Rotie
Corked., Too bad, I really liked this wine previous time I tried.

2001 Jamet Cote-Rotie
Spicy, young, good but only wine I felt really needed more time. B

1999 Gaillard “Rose Pourpre” Cote-Rotie
Black fruits and cedar, olives. B

We also had a cheese plate- Bayley Hazen is only one I noted name, but good.
Diane had brought a bubbly:
2002 Clos Cazals Blanc de blanc Champagne
Crisp, elegant, fresh baked croissant over pear fruit, quite floral. A-/B+

Nice night, really enjoyed wine, company, and restaurant.
At end of night we did traditional 3/2/1 voting, with Paul using 2 hands (one for Bill who had departed, but Paul said he knew what Bill has said)

2000 Verset 14
1998 Voge 13
2001 Voge 8
1995 Verset 5
1996 Jaboulet 4
1988 Jaboulet 3
2001 Jamet 3
1999 Gaillard 1

Grade disclaimer: I’m a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C drinkable. Anything below C means I wouldn’t drink at a party where it was only choice.Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

fun dinner and I thought the 2000 Verset Cornas walked away with the WOTN by more than just one point. Food was very good.

Food was very good there but none of the wines really wowed me. I don’t know if it was an off night for my palate or because it was a leaf day but nothing really excited me. Top 3 were pretty good though. Fun company as always!

Quite a night!

Dom. de Vallouit had fairly extensive holdings in the Northern Rhone and was also a negotiant, as I recall. They made decent wines, though they were not in the top tier. Guigal bought them in 2001: Explore the range of Domaine de Vallouit - Berry Bros. & Rudd

Who the heck needs any restaurant list, including Racine’s, when you have BYOB like that! Well done! And thanks for the notes.

I always sort of hate drinking wine in 90+ degree humid weather. Even in air conditioning they often don’t show as well.

That said, sounds like a great selection!

Imagine what our fellow geeks in SE Asia or Hong Kong have to deal with…

Thanks for the notes, Dale.

Your notes are spot on and I was pleasantly surprised with both the 1996 and 1998 La Chapelle, where I’m with you with your respective ratings. I just realized that I don’t drink much from the producer, except the occasional Saint Joseph.

I also want to note that the reds were great examples of how Northern Rhone syrah are so food-friendly, especially with the menu that we were offered. I found that some/most of the reds as not to be that hefty and heavy for my dishes. I even enjoyed the early-poured reds with my fresh (sashimi-style) tuna appetizer.

With regards to Jay’s earlier comment on drinking Rhone reds in hot weather … I couldn’t agree more. But with the cool down time via the restaurant a/c and the refreshing whites that were poured, the pre-pour dunks in the ice-bucket with some of the reds, helped ease us into comfortably drinking the syrah.

Very impressive lineup. Northern Rhones are wines for true enthusiasts.

I will confess that outside of Condrieu, the whites don’t thrill me though.

That’s some great stuff. 2000 Verset is awesome

Agreed, an excellent list and plenty of things you wouldn’t see anywhere else.

IMO, this may be the greatest wine I’ve had from Verset, although unless it was spoiled, I’ve rarely had a bad one.

I had bad luck with Jamet and corks from 1998 and 1995, so much so that I stopped buying. I won’t jump back on at $120+/btl.

The Vallouit domaine wines - while not on the Guigal or Chave-level, were really outstanding in some vintages. E.g. the 1990 Hermitage Les Greffiers is a great wine,and also both Cote-Roties 1991 Roziers and Voniere were really fine. Also some good 1985s. However I was less excited in the later 90ies … and they sold eventually to Guigal in 2001.
The Jamet 1998 should be also really fine when not off …
AND these were the better days of La Chapelle, for me 1997 being the last outstanding vintage
(ok, 2001 is vg, and 2003 is great in the style of the vintage)

I actually looked back at my notes, and indeed as I remembered I had loved the 98 Jamet at a tasting in 2008 (tied with 98 Verset for WOTN on my page). But I found that I had forgotten that we had 98 Jamet at a dinner when Steve Edmunds came to town in 2011 where I said:
I thought this mute and uninspired, but better noses declare it corked, and I’ll take their word for it.

So that’s 67% corked in my experience, as well.

If I was judging strictly by the notes then the '95 verset sounds like an A+

When you folks drink Northern Rhones are you decanting in general?

Within the context of the dinner-tasting that this thread referenced, none of the bottles were served through a decanter. I don’t recall any of the individual contributor mentioning doing advanced decanting or any aeration (they can correct me if I’m wrong).

I brought the 95 Verset Cornas and I uncorked it at home a half hour before heading to the dinner to check for soundness.

In general, I don’t decant mature-older Northern Rhones other than to try and air out any funky smell or to remove sediments that are apparent when looking at the bottle. I stand them up, a few days in advance, to try and get sediment to settle. In hindsight, perhaps I should start decanting older bottles as I thought, for example, that the 95 Verset may have benefitted with opening a bit more with some air time.