TN: Most of the 2015 Northern Rhones worth a damn, blind

Wines were opened about 3-4 hours before they were tasted. Notes organized in descending order of preference.

  • 2015 Thierry Allemand Cornas Chaillot - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
    Served single blind. A nice mix of red and black fruit and a maddeningly pretty perfume here. Great intensity throughout as well. There’s a slight green stemmy tinge that adds a nice bit of interest. The palate is incredibly pure, with a raciness that I love. The palate’s fruit feels more on the red side, and there was an elegance here that I loved. Ended up thinking that this was the Jamet, given the redder complexion of the fruit here. (93 pts.)
  • 2015 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph
    Served single blind. I was fairly convinced that the Faury VV was the Gonon, until I tasted this wine. Instantly recognizable for its incredibly aromaticity and intensity. This edition of the Gonon St. Joseph has always towered over all the other vintages I’ve had (note: I missed the 2010 on release, and it’s pointless to broach that wine right now). It’s briny with an insane amount of fruit, but there’s nothing here that is hot – there’s something about the character of this wine that cools off the heat. An absolute stunner and upon tasting this, I was fairly quickly convinced of the error of my initial guess. (93 pts.)
  • 2015 Thierry Allemand Cornas Reynard - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
    Served single blind. How coincidental that the two Allemands ended up next to each other. Black fruit, with a bit of a black cherry ice cream note on the nose that implies delicious sweet fruit. The palate is really structured, with heaps of tannin and lots and lots of fruit. It’s a svelte wine at the same time, with a silky texture and really lovely concentration. I had this pegged as the Balthazar Chaillot. Perhaps I didn’t expect this wine to be quite so backward. (93 pts.)
  • 2015 Domaine Romaneaux-Destezet (Hervé Souhaut) St. Joseph Les Cessieux - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph
    Served single blind. A real winner in my book tonight, with its lovely green tones and silky elegance. Really graceful, with a really nice raciness, and no signs of weird hipster behaviour going on here. The back end has a moderate amount of grainy tannin, and there’s a really lovely elegance here. The fruit, clean and polished, and veering a bit towards the blacker side of the spectrum, had me guessing that this was the Allemand Chaillot. (93 pts.)
  • 2015 Domaine Faury St. Joseph Vieilles Vignes - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph
    Served single blind. You know, I was pretty convinced that this was the Gonon until I actually got to the Gonon later in the line up. Intense black fruit, with a slightly purple character. The brine and olives are really played up here, and that’s certainly a nice testament to this wine. More than pleased at the reveal – this is a wine that easily punches above its weight, and I’m more than pleased to own some of them. (93 pts.)
  • 2015 Bernard Levet Côte-Rôtie La Chavaroche - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
    Served single blind. You know, I’ve never been the biggest fan of Levet because I don’t tend to enjoy too many gamy notes in my wines (not a fan of lamb, goat, or other gamy meats), and throughout the entire evening, I was looking for that one wooly wine that should have stuck out in that way. This never did. It’s a coiled powerhouse of a wine, with tons of burly tannins and a really rustic quality, with incredibly delicious black fruit. Given that sort of character, I thought that this was the Clape. (93 pts.)
  • 2015 Domaine Lionnet Cornas Terre Brûlée - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
    Served single blind. I was pretty convinced that this was a Chave bottling of some sort (probably the Clos Florentin), with its nice, sweet black fruit and really elegant polish. It’s missing a bit of the olive and meat elements, but this is nonetheless a slick and really enjoyable bottle of wine. The finish does have a slight touch of heat, and the vintage seems to carry through pretty prominently here. (93 pts.)
  • 2015 Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
    Served single blind. A slight bit of reduction on the nose, with a massive amount of tannin on the palate. Really intense and burly – the amount of tannin here makes the wine almost come across as slightly bitter. There are some spice notes that air can coax out, as well as a really nice smoky note on the nose as well. Upon revisiting, I think that this will end up being a fairly good wine, but this is something that needs time. The relatively tannic and rustic feel on this wine had me thinking that this was a Cornas of some sort. (93 pts.)
  • 2015 Franck Balthazar Cornas Chaillot - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
    Served single blind. Initially, this was a little thin on the nose and palate, and I thought it came across quite simply, with some pleasant red fruit, a nice perfume, but not quite enough potency and power on the palate. Upon revisiting later on in the evening, this had definitely picked up some heft, and the real olive notes started to perk up as well. I’m not sure if this is more closed than the last few times I had this, but air is a friend to this wine at least right now. (93 pts.)
  • 2015 La Grande Colline Cornas - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
    Served single blind. Immediately identified as the Ooka. It’s so distinctive and it’s so obvious this is one of those “natural” wines, but there’s none of those unpleasant mousy aromas here. Very clean, even if the floral tones of natural winemaking do rear their head. The high-toned nature (and slight spritz) of this wine seems to not only accentuate the floral aromas, but also some really nice olive tones as well. (As a side note, I’ve always loved how La Grande Colline translates to 大岡. It’s a great multilingual play on words.) (93 pts.)
  • 2015 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave St. Joseph Clos Florentin - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph
    Served single blind. I think I liked this a little more than others did tonight. This was black-fruited, juicy, and very forward on the palate. Pleasant, with a softer touch, and I thought this was probably one of the lesser producers, given its attenuated complexity and straightforward disposition. Not particularly profound, and with air, some of the oak starts to rear its head. (93 pts.)
  • 2015 Alain Voge Cornas Les Vieilles Vignes - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
    Served single blind. There’s a lot of spicy character in this wine, and part of it came from the oak, and there’s ample red fruit as well. It’s clearly a bit of a modernist take on the region, but it’s done in a fairly nice way. It’s not necessarily the kind of wine I’d ever want to pull from my cellar, but it’s pleasant enough. I thought it had a slight bit of carbonic character, and the fruit was definitely on the red end of the spectrum – thought there was a chance this was a Souhaut, but couldn’t square it with the oak. (93 pts.)
  • 2015 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
    Served single blind. (Bottle 4648.) Amazing what obscuring the label can do. This was high-toned, with some really prickly oak aromas on the nose that no one really enjoyed. There was some really pretty fruit on the palate, but a slightly bitter twist of oak on the back end that I thought wasn’t particularly becoming of the rest of the palate. Finishes a touch hot too. Given that sort of in-your-face oak treatment here, I thought that this was the Voge VV. In comparison to my previous note, I’ll admit to a bit of egg on the face here. I think the wine might be fine in isolation, but compared to the other wines that have a low oak treatment, this will never show well. All this said, am I going off to market to dump my 2015 Chave? Hell no. (93 pts.)
  • 2015 Domaine Auguste Clape Cornas - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
    Served single blind. Dark fruit, with a bit of a real rustic stink to it. Behind that slight bit of dirtiness is a nice amount of fruit, but it is some work to look for it. The palate is rustic and fairly coarse, and while again there’s pleasant fruit, it’s not obvious, and this tapers off on the back end with some acidity and sort of evaporates on the palate. I’m not entirely sure what to make of this, as it really ought to be better than it is. Time? (93 pts.)
  • 2015 Domaine Romaneaux-Destezet (Hervé Souhaut) Sainte-Epine - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph
    Served single blind. Pretty much went straight to Souhaut on this wine, with its unpleasant nose of farts. Stinky and dirty and really unpleasant. If you can get through the nose, the palate has some pleasant red fruit. But that’s really where it ends: the wine comes apart on the finish, with the alcohol showing in a fairly disjoint way: sharp elbows and all that. (93 pts.)
  • 2015 Domaine Vincent Paris Cornas La Geynale - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
    Corked. (93- pts.)
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I was not at this dinner but I’ve tasted most of the wines in the past year and your notes are spot on.

Someone was arguing with me on IG that Clape was some magical producer that juge/allemand weren’t at the level of. I just lol’d.

Btw, no juge?!?

Sounds like the 2015 Clape is shutting down. I drank several bottles of restaurant lists earlier this year and they were consistently extraordinary.

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So Gonon is the QPR of the tasting, not surprised really. They seem to be getting better and better, 2010 to 2013 and now 2015. Did Gonon make a VV in 2015?

Surprising you are not a game fan given your zeal for Northern Rhônes. That 2015 Levet is about the least gamy Levet that I’ve ever had, and I love game notes in my wine. Would have been cool to have snuck in a Les Journaries. It generally shows better than La Chav in its youth, and in some vintages, it just is better.

Thanks for the notes and the very frank assessment on some of the wine. I have a differing opinion on Clape than you guys, but have not popped any of my Cornas bottlings since the 2008 vintage. These wines need oodles of time. I’m not paying $200 for the 2015, however.

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Great notes, Adrian

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Thx for the comprehensive notes! Is that Chave st Joseph a different bottling than their regular st Joseph?

Great notes, and yes, most that are worth a damn. On CT you note that with Sorrel ( I assume Marc) and Bénetière you’d have them all - I’d add Barge to that list and call it complete.

Charlie, I think that I’m generally a bigger fan than you are of Clape, but nothing really ever touches the heights of Allemand, at least for me.

No Juge. One of the worthies that was missed.

William, the Clape got released here a month or two ago. I suspect that it was already shut down at that point, unfortunately. The cost of living a few months behind the coasts…

In the long run, I think I am still bullish on the wine. I’ve generally enjoyed the older ones I’ve had, once they soften up.

I’m willing to bet there’s going to be a 15 Gonon VV. I also don’t think that Gonon is really the QPR it used to be. The 15 is floating around the mid $100s I think. That said, this vintage is very, very special indeed.

Totally agree with the 15 Levet being not gamy. That was what I was looking for and so I couldn’t pin it down in the lineup. I actually bought some 15 Levet myself before having tasted it (also my first since 2010) since I love the vintage so much. I’ve never looked up the difference between Chavaroche and Journaries, so thanks for the tip.

Clape was about $150 here, but I agree it needs a lot of time. The 14 was quite pleasant on release.

Yes, it is a brand new (as of 2015) single parcel bottling – at least to what I know.

Need Juge, as Charlie rightly pointed out, and possibly Gilles too.

But the five producers that I really wanted, and that I buy every year – Clape, Jamet, Chave, Allemand, and Gonon – were the original skeleton over which this lineup was formed.

Sounds like the Les Cessieux might be the sleeper here? Weird how the St Epine from Souhaut seems flawed with funk though, makes me wonder if you just got a good bottle of the Cessieux?

I know very little about the Souhaut wines. Haven’t had many, but always thought (perhaps incorrectly) that they would be thin and natty. One of the bottlings I had in the past (which includes gamay), was downright vile. Still don’t know what to make of this producer coming out of this tasting, and I won’t be rushing out to buy some, as I find inconsistency to be a fairly big red flag.

I certainly am. Just forget it until 2035, unfortunately. I would say the same about the Allemand 2015s, too. Tasted them with Thierry last week and, as you experienced, they are built for the long haul. But the Clape and Allemand 2015s are very nicely balanced, which cannot be said for all the 2015 Cornas I have tasted.

Barge’s 2015s are a little woody, 2016 and 2014 are more interesting. An estate in (positive) evolution.

For those that like the Levet style, I do think it is an oversight just to buy the La Chavaroche. Les Journaries is solid in its own right, in some vintages as good as La Chav - at least shows better at a younger age - and in some vintages, say like 2013, it is just the better wine. The 2011 is beautiful. I always buy both. I would not say this about the Amethyst bottling, but it is a fun wine.

Wonder if anyone is going to get their hands on some 2015 benetiere anytime soon. The delays by Pierre getting these into the hands of importers are worrisome

With all due respect to the thread starter, whose notes are excellent, I have to state the following:

A list of “Most of the 2015 Northern Rhones worth a damn” that does not include anything from:

Guigal
Chapoutier
Jaboutlet-Aine
or the producer I represent

is an absurdity.

Dan Kravitz

Still just released, and with a long lifespan ahead, should integrate, no?