TN: 2011 Levet Les Journaries - To Heck w/the Rule of 15

Smelly cat, smelly cat, what are they feeding you . . . .

Like a warm, fuzzy, feral stinky cat.

The nose so intoxicating. A Siren call. Maybe the smelly cat is actually two day old road kill on a hot southern asphalt road, wafts of tar, smoke, venison gristle and seared fat lifting from the heat, with dry forest floor leaves susurrating in the breeze. Road tracks from the deer-slayer marking its turf, Alfert walking around declaring this wine is the roasted slope merde. I smell the neighbor’s old barn, the dried hay, the wild flowers, and some petrichor on this fine sunny day with its late afternoon shower. Wild, brambly red and dark fruits, some florals and wild raspberry puree. Chewy gristle, tannins still roaring, acids are fine, finish is long.

All in all, this wine is so damn good. Never forget that Les Journaries is every bit as worthy of purchase as is the La Chavaroche. This ain’t no second label.

(93 pts.)

Hot damn, that sounds good! Of the Journaires, I only have the 10 but will pop an 11 Chavaroche this weekend and hope it’s like that. Thank for the note.

Ha, definitely your style of syrah, Jared. Sit on those 2010s. Could be the best Levet that I’ve had, but they are bruisers. I’m not even sure when to pop one again but it will definitely be 15+ and starting with the Les Journaries. La Chav typically is more monolithic by comparison, needing more time.

They say wine and chocolate is a good match, how about this one:

“Oh, we use only the finest baby frogs, dew-picked and flown from Iraq, cleansed in the finest quality spring water, lightly killed, and sealed in a succulent, Swiss, quintuple-smooth, treble-milk chocolate envelope, and lovingly frosted with glucose.”

Cayuse?

2011 Northern Rhone is drinking so good right now…

2011 FTW. Drank an 2011 Allemand Reynard last night - great! But young, too, and will be better in 5 years.

Great note, sounds “alive”. I bought a bunch of Journaries owning to your notes (and a few test drives)…

Alan’s post sounds like a recipe from a Rolland nightmare.

I like various types of funk in my wine.
Smelly cat is not one of them.
Neither is dead animal.
The rest of the descriptors are very enticing.
Knowing Alfert’s penchant for hyperbole, I’d probably like this wine.

I’ve had some Chinon that had a distinct scent of road kill.

I think you are just sucking up to Fu

Hyperbole for sure, my penchant for that as palpable as Todd’s penchant for gossip.

The wine is feral. In a good way. Not that road kill is bad thing.

Fu was in diapers eating noodles out of sippy cups when Alfert was cutting his teeth on syrah! Now he’s gone rogue Insta-model syrah guru, in like 13.5 months. This wine might be too gamey for his fruit-lush palate.

Hmmmmm…
2013, Ovid Proprietary Pritchard Hill.
The wine hits the palate with a cascade of gorgeous fruit, sweet tannin, great delineation and acidity, and a long, velvety, voluptuously textured mouthfeel. This big, inky, thick, juicy wine should age beautifully for 25-30 years.
98 Robert Parker
The Levet Les Journaries is a personal favorite of mine
Here in the old world we follow the rule of 25

Cracks me up that you had an Ovid as well. Could not find two more polar opposites. My last bottle of 98 Levet was corked, rats!

I remember buying 1999 Levet @ 35$…Fantastic wine
No never had an Ovid. Just a poor attempt to refer to the fruit-lush palate
Having a 2010 Burgaud Cote Rotie to night. So much for the rule of 25

Already at its apogee? Amazing!!

The 2010 is a baby. You can sense Cote Rotie greatness.

Haha, I forgot this note. Drinking another bottle now, almost 4 years later. This wine is settling into a nice place. Still wild and gamy but not quite as intense. Much more integrated. Not a vintage for everyone, but then again, Levet is not a Cote Rotie for everyone, either. Love this stuff.