Not sure if any one has seen this, but being a Northern Rhone nut, this was right up my alley.
Interesting, but not cheap. $100 for the tasting isn’t bad, but $4000 for the Chave dinner? Wowsa!!!
or you can go to the BYOB dinner for $600 and drink plenty of Chave!
I’ll be there with some goodies for the Gala dinner. I’m sure there will be plenty of Chave at the Gala…not the 1959 though!!
Wish Jamet/Clape/Allemand was on the list…the tasting seems interesting.
Apparently there was so much interest in the Chave dinner that they had to move it to Pasquale Jones… I’m shocked that there are that many people willing to spend that much on dinner.
rhone is so hot right now
It’s my understanding there is a wait list too.
I’ll be there at the Saturday dinner
Funny, I’m bringing 2 out of 3 or those 
Wish I could’ve gone but away for work
Ian, I wished they were at the tasting as well…Enjoy the BYOB dinner, should be a great event!
Figured I would follow up on this after last night and post a few impressions.
I only went to the dinner and after party, not the tasting during the day. There are two huge parts of this tasting that I loved. First, they donated a lot of money to No Kid Hungry. As far as I know, none of the other big events donate to charity, so this was a huge bonus for what I also thought was a modest ticket price ($675 all in for both events I attended). Second, the food was awesome, and there was plenty of it. I grabbed pizza before La Paulee since there just isn’t enough food, and it’s never amazing.
Now on to what you really want to hear about, the wines. I was actually quite a bit startled by how many bad bottles got served. I’ll leave out specifics, but it was pretty bad. I was also surprised how much non-northern Rhone was being poured, including a bottle of Pride Syrah (that needed to be called out). On to the wines that matter.
1990 Chave Blanc- Easily the best white of the day for me, and something I brought. It just kept getting better and better with air, and while it had great texture and richness, it still had great freshness, acid and balance. Drink or hold, but this is a star and you should be happy if you own it.
1991 Chave Blanc- Had this at one point with the 1990, and it showed that it clearly came from a cooler year. Really precise, and much more youthful at this point, it would be fun to revisit later in their lives side by side again.
1995 Chave Blanc- I had this twice (first bottle was awful, bret bomb and just unpleasant), but the second bottle was redeeming. It wasn’t stellar, but was probably much closer to what this SHOULD taste like, but I think this bottle was slightly off (like it came out of passive storage)
1998 Jamet Cote Rotie - Friend brought this, and it was just terrific. I’ve had this a few times, and was great to have again. Pure, graceful, supple, with plenty of length and complexity. Just enough dirtiness to remind you that it was old school, but this was really sexy stuff.
1998 Jamet Cote Rotie Cote Brune- This was a good deal chunkier than the regular, but didn’t have the polish. I actually preferred the regular bottling more, which is good given the price tag and rarity of this one 
1995 Jamet Cote Rotie Cote Brune- Another of my brings, and super glad I did. It was everything I loved about the 1998 on steroids. Total wow factor wine, but not a behemoth like a Guigal Lala of the same age. Took a few hours to come around, but when it did, it was totally sublime.
1990 Clape Cornas- Another of my brings, and was probably the least of the three. There was a little VA popping up through the wine that threw it’s delicate balance off a bit. Still, not a bad wine to drink.
1983 Guigal La Landonne- I’ve had this a few times, and this was EASILY the best bottle. Rustic, loads of garrigue and iron, but the fruit, texture, mouthfeel, richness, acid, everything was spot on. Really a serious effort, and proof these wines really need 30+ years to find their stride.
1990 Jaboulet La Chappelle- Interestingly, I’ve had this several times in the last few months, but this bottle was screaming good and really showing off everything. Loads of power, but precise enough to keep me engaged. Really polished, with more earthiness than other bottles I’ve had too.
1985 Verset Cornas- I was hoping this would have been less than stellar (as I find the pricing of these wines absurd), but my expectations were way, way, way off. This bottle was insanely good. Along with the 95 Jamet CB and the 83 Landonne, this was in my top 3. It was by far and away the best Cornas I have ever had. Supple, rich, somewhat Burgundian, but with iron and herbs running deep through it. Super balanced and pure, I wish I owned some of this.
2003 Juge Cornas (mag)- If you were served this blind, there is NO WAY you would have said 2003 vintage. It certainly showed it came from a warm vintage, but the aromatics were stunning (and quite unique too) and the wine had plenty of acidic. It was a bit firm on the tannins which knocked down a bit of the complexity on the pallet, but what a terrific and enjoyable wine.
1985 Chave Rouge- This was a great share from our table, and was a spot on bottle. It had no color as other bottles do, but it had really blossomed in to a wildly complex wine of grace and harmony.
There was a decent amount of other wines I drank too, but weren’t worth mentioning in depth. I had a very charming and fun bottle of 2011 Vincent Paris Cornas Geynale that was brought by Vincent, and was a terrific value, just outclassed in this company. I also enjoyed the Vernay Condrieu Coteaux Vernon 2015, but was served too cold, and I lost interest in it after the first taste.
- for the first point, do you think being so N. Rhone classic focused that people are limited in what they are gonna bring? I was thinking about this as I was seeing the photos pop up. Unlike La Paulee where each producers has multiple bottles that people will bring the high powered $$ ones have so few. Verset has one, Jamet has two, Allemand one, Chave one, Gentz etc and only so many vintages. I’m curious how the event will shape up in the corresponding years.
Also, DAMN someone had the balls to bring a Pride Syrah? So what happened when they were called out? Did they not get anymore pours? 
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Hopefully the other non northern rhone stuff were at least good?
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I have been WAITING for someone to open one of these 03 Juge mags. Glad to hear it’s showing awesome.
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would you go again? I heard there were some somm issues at the dinner?
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I had that thought going in, and there was a ton of Chave, but for the most part, no. What’s interesting is that if you think about it, to bring your A game, even to bring something crazy rare, it’s WAY less than you would for La Paulee. I’m not sure if any one called out the Pride guy or not, but that was just bad form. Some of the non-northern Rhone stuff was good, others were…
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KILLER, but definitely wait.
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No question. It was a lot of fun, and frankly, I paced myself so much better too, even with sipping on some stuff I didn’t post about. Somm issues? I heard nothing about that. I’m curious what you heard. I’m glad you actually brought that up, as our table had the A Team of somms, and they were flat out incredible. That bottle of 90 Clape I didn’t open till the after party, and it had been left in the back station with the other bottles for service, and the team quickly grabbed it and opened it for me, no problems or questions asked. Everything was seamless through the meal for us.
I went to the tasting. There were some mostly minor glitches, but overall it was an incredible value and event.
There was a much bigger turnout than I expected. The crowd to me seemed to be a quite a mix, a good amount of wine fans, though not necessarily Rhone nuts - and people who were just looking to do something on a Saturday afternoon.
I am a Northern Rhone nut and my focus is on traditionallly made wines with ideally no new oak notes even when young. There were alot of wines that fit that bill for me as well as wines that would please those who are less rigid in their preferences.
I think the timing of the tasting Saturday afternoon , before Thanksgiving in the Financial District was perfect - the place is empty by NYC standards - and that made it easy to get in and out.
I hope they do this every year, and I’d pay more for just the tasting. They will probably need to find a bigger place next year for just the tasting. I’m really not a dinner guy unless its at a great restaurant with a slate of wines that I think I’ll appreciate.
JMHO.
How much was just the tasting?
Sounds like a great afternoon with some fantastic wines. During the tasting, were folks pouring current release wines or library ones or both? What was the ‘focus’?
Cheers.
I think it was $100, but I did not go.
There were some older wines, but not many. I did see the book.
I attended the tasting with a friend. We both haven’t explored N. Rhone in detail and the event proved quite useful.
Venue and the event was classy. Extremely well organized. The group was mostly filled with people in the business, however a few geeks and enthusiasts like us were present. Wasn’t too crowded, got plenty of time to chat with lot of producers. In fact they were very curious to chat with us (the public) and see what the trend is or what style people preferred.
Few takeaways, most of which I already knew
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producer >> location. For e.g. Chave’s Saint Joseph was far better than some producers Hermitage or Cote Rotie.
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Ask 5 producers about their favorite vintage this decade, you get 5 different answers. Each one has a different palate…find yours!
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However most of them preferred 2016s to 2015s as the wines had better acidity and balance. Go for 2015s if you preferred the riper style.
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I need to buy and drink more Condrieu.
Few thoughts from the tasting:
Top names, I liked
Chave - Wines across the spectrum was great. The 2012 Hermitage was easily WOTA. Their Saint-Joseph “Offerus” 80% own vineyard and 20% grapes bought perhaps is the best value wine. Incredible depth, purity of syrah, great showing for a young wine.
Balthazar - Preferred the “Cuvee Casimir” to “Chaillot” perhaps the tennis needed to settle down and integrate in the latter. Both 2015 vintage. Syrah in Cornas seems to express its purity more. I need to look out for this producer, with Allemand and Clape getting too expensive.
Domaine Rostaing - Another producer to watch for…their Cote-Rotie Ampodium, La Landonne and Cote Blonde were all terrific. Showed no heat of the 2015 vintage. Great layer and texture, needs 7-8 years to come around. However their 2016 Condrieu stole the show.
Domaine Faury - Sign of another top notch producer is when wines across the spectrum is great. From basic Saint-Joesph to Cote Rotie “Emporium” was top notch. Compared to Rostaing it was little dialed back but had touch more freshness.
Pierre Gonon - Up there with the Chave’s Saint-Joesph’s. Such a joy to taste and drink!
Domaine Georges Vernay - I need to seek out their Condrieu’s…“Coteau du Vernon” and “Chailles D’Enfer” had both enticing aromas on the nose and great mineral depth. The Cote Rotie “Maison Rouge” and Saint-Joseph “Terres D’Encre” were delicious as well.
Other notable producers:
Vincent Paris: Cornas “Granit 30” and “Granit 60” - classic cornas although the latter showed little bit of heat in the backend.
Andre Perret: The Condrieu fared better than the Saint-Joseph. Condrieu “Clos Chanson” was an aromatic beauty.
Clusel Roch: Cote-rotie “Vialliere” was lovely…the other two were ok.
Aurelien Chatagnier: the 2015 cornas was good, the Saint-Joesph rouge lacked a bit depth.
Two other producers which came as a surprise:
Jaboulet: Had the entire vertical from Hermitage blanc, Condrieu to Cornas, Cote Rotie and Hermitage “La Chapelle”…The whites were 2014 and the reds were 2015 vintage. Didnt have the purity of wine or depth or freshness of the other wines. refer to point #1 in my learning.
E. Guigal: 2007 - Cote-Rotie “Chateau d’ampuls” very modern, ripe but enjoyable if you prefer that style. The 1996 “La Landonne” was too oaky and felt over-extracted. Although the wine had well balanced acidity and concentration, it didn’t show the depth of other cote-roties.
I hope the event is back next year. Very well done, hopefully they can get Jamet and/or Allemand.