A Rhône dinner (Texier, Graillot, Gonon, Jamet)

My two favorite wine related activities are introducing foreign consumers to Portuguese wine and introducing Portuguese consumers to foreign wine. I invited five aficionado friends for a Rhône tasting which was a hit, and ended with promises of further reunions. I brought the 2018 Brézème Vieille Rousette (not pictured) for the entrées, and loved the contrast of its bold, ripe nose of sweet apricot and candied citrus with a palate that was electrifying and lively, with perfect food friendly acidity and terrific persistence.

The 2018 Graillot Guiraude suffered from a somewhat high serving temperature that masked most traits of regional typicity (more apparent upon opening) behind a wall of ripe dark fruit, and was balanced out by a stemmy, tannic palate that nevertheless screamed for quite a few years in the cellar. Gonon (2019) was Gonon: deeply floral, irresistibly pretty, in a piquant interaction with white pepper and savory tapenade notes. It kept changing dramatically in the glass as the night progressed, and would have continued to do so if it had survived that long. I am very glad I convinced my neighborhood store to sell me another bottle of this for 50€. Jamet (2018) then proceeded to steal the show with immense structure and a flamboyant profile of blueberries, garrigue, smokiness and a delightful hint of sauvage that I believe we all associate with the producer. It was big and burly but unquestionably a product of its appellation, and somehow not a regret to open young even though I would have loved to taste it the next day.
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A wonderful read, many thanks!! Some killer wines there for one night!

Sounds awesome! Why am I not currently in Portugal??

If you were I might be hosting a Bairrada dinner instead!

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Yes, thanks for the notes, Tomás,

And for the contagious enthusiasm–a little bit of baby-killing, but glad it worked out for you.

^ I was going to write the same kind of comment about the wines being waaaay too young…
La.Guiraude usually needs 10+ years to be approchable.
More with Jamet.
Gonon might be the best candidate for drinking at any time. Some will prefer at 4-5 years, others 8-10 or 15+. But usually Gonon is fun (sometimes needs a good decant).
Whereas a closed Guiraude is boring, even painful.

But good if it worked out for you and your friends.
Great line up in any case.

Alain

Thanks for the notes. I hold a couple of the 2019 Gonon that I endured carrying back home with me after being offered at Euro 50 per.

I’m not surprised that the 2018 Jamet C-R stole the show here, even if I’ve not had it and that I’m not enthused with the very few 2018 Northern Rhone reds I’ve had so far. I’ve had quite a bit, various vintages, from this property and they dial in well in different vintage circumstances.

Thanks for the notes, two of my favourite producers… Gonon and Jamet!!

Great notes…Gonon St. Jo is one of my favorites but I have not tried the 2019…running to my cellar!

Tomas: Wow, not only did you open wines of gravitas, but of scarcity! That is a line up of serious WB thinking man’s Rhone. And it’s extra cool that you considered new releases, since they can be hard to enjoy/understand when young (at least for me).

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However, Tomas has now created the situation where his guests will be prowling around the internet a week later thinking they can casually order pallets of these wines…only to be cruelly disappointed.

Because TAP rescheduled/postponed your flight after check in.

(yet cheerfully/gleefully sent your baggage to Funchal instead)

The new releases were up for grabs and did not cost an arm and a leg (the Jamet was 130€ and we split it among ourselves equally, the Gonon is 50€ at my neighborhood shop), as I would have otherwise preferred to sample older vintages.

I learn a lot from this forum, and continue to do so. It might come across from my contributions here that I pretty much stick to domestic wines, but that is more the effort of contributing something different to the forum, hopefully igniting people’s curiosity about Portuguese table wine, rather than a pure reflection of my drinking and purchasing habits. And something I have discovered about Northern Rhône is that not only do I adore these wines, there are still ways to drink that stuff without selling a kidney. I’m perfectly happy drinking bottles like the Chave Offerus, for instance, and there are tons of affordable producers in St. Joseph and Crozes-Hermitage.

Also, stay the hell away from TAP. If Satan himself is flying the same route with his airline company of infernal cohorts, give the Devil your money.

He calls it AA, and its hubbed out of DFW :frowning:

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Why am I not currently in Portugal?? [cheers.gif]

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Check out Domaine Barou and Domaine Rousset!

Really solid wines for value price.

I agree that there is a ton of good Syrah in the lower price brackets.

Francois Dumas Saint-Joseph, some of the entry level wines from both Jamets, Balthazar’s Crozes-Hermitage, the Maison Stephan Syrah and some of Guy Farge’s wines just to mention a few. And most of them will probably age well.

Had a tremendous 2010 CDR Jamet not long ago.