On the nose, bloody meat, game, some white pepper, violets, and a bunch of Hermitage granite. Beguiling. This is complicated, layered, savory and deep with a perfect balance of meat, mineral and fruit. This is, for me, in the absolute perfect spot. Dense yet not heavy, wild yet focused and refined. The tannins have softened, in this already more approachable vintage, and everything has come together seamlessly. this is effortless, pure, beautiful syrah. Terribly long. I cannot imagine this bottle showing better than it did today. This may not be the most impressive or sexy vintage of Chave, but it is showing in a perfect spot, is flat out beautiful, and I’m getting far greater joy from hitting this at its peak than I would imagining how good a “better vintage” drunk too young will be some day. Incredibly pleasurable, and in no risk of a downhill slide anytime soon. That said, no reason to wait.
Alan, This was the best showing of this wine I have had. It was blle #6 of a case or so I bought forever ago. The first one that really sang for me was a couple years ago, the rest have been a bit thin and on the redder, acidic side. This has really turned into a swan and showed much better than I had hope for in the beginning of the case. Lovely stuff.
Thanks. Here are my shorter notes from August 2014 when I opened a bottle for a wine tasting group.
“Nose of smoked meats and bacon. Clearly identifiable as a Rhone Valley from the mid-90’s by the group. Great purity of flavor. A beautiful wine. No hurry to drink. Had been decanted for about 2 hours.”
For whatever points are worth, I gave it 94 points (which tends to be the highest score I award for some reason that I cannot explain).
I had one a couple years ago and I agree it is fantastic as well as drinking beautifully. On the other hand I don’t think there is any hurry at all, given how well lesser vintages have shown with more age.
Really fascinating. My experiences with wines that are going in that direction have usually been… that they keep going in that direction and end up dead. Maybe I need to be more patient.
This wine is drinking great now and has been for a couple of years. In fact, I would agree with Todd that it is pretty much at peak. It should drink well for a long time but I don’t see it getting any better. No need to wait on these if you have any.
Interesting about whether the wine is at peak or not. When John Gilman recently tasted it, he pushed out his recommended window to 2040. I have no idea how to know who is right here, but I will be glad to wait a year and try another bottle. And then repeat. I have had JL Chave with more age on them that were fantastic.
This wine is atypical for Chave. It has a great, perfumed nose which you don’t normally encounter in a wine this young from Chave, even in early maturing vintages. It is medium bodied and has a Burgundy feel on the palate. Something I usually find in older northern Rhones. Still plenty of fruit though and quite intense but plenty of tertiary notes too. It may very well last for decades more given its pedigree, but I doubt it will be better than it is today. It is a very different wine from any other vintage in the 90s and I’ve tried them all.
A big +1 on the folks loving this wine here. It is our anniversary year and I’d selected this for dinner, but it wouldn’t have worked with the food out that night and my wife asked me to wait on this until yesterday.
Interesting question about whether this is a point now or better out to 2040. For 15 minutes after opening this was the most enjoyable Chave from the 90s I’ve had - right at that perfect balance point between freshness and tertiary development, exactly as Todd describes. Then for the next hour it proceeded to shut down, finally after a couple more hours it was “merely” a nice medium-bodied slightly rustic 90s Hermitage. I think if I’d slow-ox’ed this I’d have missed the best part. But not counting that first glass i think there is good upside potential here.
I had it in late Oktober, and I agree that it is on its apogee - but nevertheless no hurry, it will remain there for at least another 10 years (if bottles are well stored).
I would push luck until 2040 but not drinking up all bottles either.
I’m not trying to go too far off topic here but has anyone tried the 2001 vintage lately? I know it’s young but I’m curious how it is progressing because it’s the only vintage of this wine that I currently own.
thanks
Not tried lately (app. 2 y ago), but based on my knowledge of this producer and other Hermitages of this vintage it would be (far) too early to enjoy it. Yes, impressive, but aromatically closed and still quite structured, I would only try it if I had a full case and nothing older to drink.
I´d wait at least until 2018/19, better 2020-2030 …
I had it last year and last month, with consistent thoughts:
2001 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage- France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage (11/12/2014) Andrew’s and Howard’s birthday dinner (Hippopotamus Restaurant, Wellington): Deep, fairly primary looking colour. A lovely, expressive bouquet of ripe berries particularly blackberries and other dark fruits, crème de cassis, with chalk and peppery and savoury notes. Gorgeous, fully (but not over-) ripe, rich fruit. Impressive structure, fruit weight and length, with excellent flavour complexity, spicy and savoury. Suave, fine grained tannins. Excellent vibrant acidity, just quite primary and a little closed at the moment. An excellent wine I would hold for 5+ years if I had a bottle. (94 pts.)
Tasted one tonight to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Still fairly tight and closed, better after 3 hours of air time. Enjoyable but really needs another 5-10 years.
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but not drinking up all bottles either.