TNs: Rhone night

Quick tasting notes from a Rhone night.

NV Marc Hébrart Champagne Premier Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut
Big and bold red apple fruit, perfect as an aperitif. Definitely a crowd pleaser, if I had a house champagne this would be it.
2017 Domaine Jean-Claude Marsanne Crozes-Hermitage
Traditional fuss-free Northern Rhone. Lots of raspberry, just a little too purple and inky for me if that makes sense. Would buy again though for the price.

2011 Château des Tours Côtes du Rhône
Better than the 2012 I tried some time back. Light in colour, fragrant nose - finally got to see the Rayas signature. After a bit of air, the elegant and sweet kirsch really blossomed. Very bright acidity. I should like this, but somehow I don’t.
2014 M. Chapoutier St. Joseph Deschants
2014 M. Chapoutier Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Bernardine
Very correct wines, a little polished for Rhones. Everyone nailed the St Joseph but thought that the CdP was a Cote-Rotie.

2009 Domaine Vincent Paris Cornas La Geynale
Almost unanimously the WOTN, such a dense and massive wine but in a good way. Still drinking very young with a long way to go. Plenty of structure, tannins, acidity and fruit, all in balance. Treads the fine line between red and dark fruits well.

2013 Domaine Barge Cote Rotie Le Combard
Elegant and floral, clearly a Cote-Rotie. Less structured than the Cote Brune that I tried previously but was able to guess the producer from the balance between structure and elegance.

2016 Le Clos du Caillou Châteauneuf-du-Pape Les Safres
Much more CDP-like than the Chapoutier but still elegant rather than jammy. Very good but way too young.

Thanks for the notes. Sounds like this was a blind tasting. Double?

Hi Ramon my pleasure, it was a Rhone theme so wasn’t a double blind.

That '18 Sanzay Les Poyeux looks like it came from the WWI era.

Haha it was a leftover half bottle of Les Salles Martins blanc from last week that someone brought - still held up well though. Had a round suppleness to it from the ripe vintage which suggests that it’s for early drinking.

It was well soaked in the ice bucket, hence looked that way…

Thanks for the notes!

Did this need a lot of air to open up? I have a couple but have been holding off because of fears it might be closed

Yeah, I had the same question. I have a number of Barges, but I like my CR pretty mature, and don’t particularly enjoy them so much on the younger side.

Hi Yao and John, I believe it was opened before the dinner but just not sure of how long before! It was JT’s bottle actually so he might be able to help with your questions.

It definitely was pleasurable enough but still had a long way to go yet. For comparison, I felt that the Barge Combard 13 was further along in its development than the Paris Geynale 09 which was still very backward, and the Barge Cote Brune 2013 which I had some time back that was still a wall of structure.