Thanks for sharing your notes. A great tasting!
Thanks for the wonderful notes, Richard, Craig and Alan. Sounds like a fabulous evening.
I have a fair deal of experience matching wines with Turkish cuisine, and have found that they are generally quite compatible. Even most dishes that include red Aleppo pepper paste generally aren’t that spicy hot and can still work with a full-bodied Mediterranean wine. Most Turkish dishes rely on herbs rather than chili heat and the herbs rarely overpower the other flavors.
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Nice tasting ! A lot of wines …. I hope to see the San Fr friends again in January , I will be there again the week of January 8 !
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The rest of the sentence was superfluous.
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Great to hear Herwig! We’ll start planning something soon.
Great notes, posts, and pictures, Richard/Craig/Alan! Thank you for posting and sharing with us all. 
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A little behind in writing up my notes, but here they are:
ALLEMAND VS CHAVE - Kitchen Istanbul (9/29/2023)
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2016 Domaine Labet Chardonnay En Chalasse - France, Jura, Côtes du Jura
Bright nose with lemon, apple, and mineral notes. Very high acidity with lots of lemon notes, lime, citrus zest, and chalky flavors on the palate. Finish is quite long. I felt this was still super young and in need of 5-10 years. Enjoyed it quite a bit, but the acidity needs time to calm down... 93+ (93 points) -
2016 Anne Boisson Meursault Sous La Velle - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault
Nuanced and pretty nose with quite a bit of fruit, smoke, slight reduction, and mineral notes. Nice acidity with more lemon and green apple notes on the palate. Finish is nice and lingers. Really delicious wine with good complexity and more subtle, well balanced flavors. I enjoyed this quite a bit. (93 points) -
2005 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
Rich nose with notes of honey, orange, citrus, and maybe a hint of apricot. The palate felt a bit tighter with decent acidity, citrus zest notes, and a slight bitterness. Nice finish. This is rich and complex and I particularly enjoyed the nose, but the palate feels like it needs a bit more time. 92-93+ (93 points)
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2012 Thierry Allemand Cornas Reynard - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
Gorgeous and sumptuous nose with savory notes, olives, violets, pepper, and dark fruit. Nice acidity with lots more of dark fruit and tart black cherries, along with a slight brine note. Long finish. Really excellent wine that drinks well right now, but will only improve with time. 95++ (95 points) -
2012 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
Very pretty and open on the nose with dark fruit, cherry, and nice complexity, but clearly less floral than the Reynard next to it. Great acidity on the palate with tart fruit, cherries, good structure, and a hint of blood orange. Nice finish. This wine felt a bit reserved at first, but really woke up with air. Not quite as immediately enjoyable as the Allemand, but might get there with time. 94-95+ (95 points) -
2006 Thierry Allemand Cornas Reynard - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
Beautiful and expressive nose with lovely floral character with notes of cherries, pepper, rich fruit, and a hint of leather. The palate feels quite plush with nice acidity, red and dark fruit notes, meat, and more cherries. Long finish. Excellent wine, delicious and very complex. (96 points) -
2006 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
A bit more reserved compared to the Reynard with quite dark fruit notes, black pepper, smoke, and mushrooms. Medium acidity on the palate with black cherries, good structure, cedar, and underwood notes. Nice finish. A lovely wine. (94 points)
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2008 Thierry Allemand Cornas Reynard - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
Noticeably lighter on the nose than the other wines with violets, cherries, flowers, and maybe a slightly musty note. Good acidity with tart cherries, dark fruit, and blackberries on the palate. Good finish. A nice wine, but not quite as complex and put together as I remember it from 5 years ago... (93 points) -
2008 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
Quite nice and expressive on the nose with berry notes, flowers, cherries, and cedar. Nice acidity with distinctly darker fruit notes on the palate, violets, and pepper. Nice finish. Feels like a very classic, delicious Syrah with nice depth. Lovely wine, especially for the vintage. (94 points)
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2004 Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
Gorgeous nose with floral notes, bright fruit, cherries, and blackberries. Nice acidity on the palate with complex flavors of red fruit, cherries, and blood orange. Long finish. Excellent wine that is drinking beautifully right now! (95 points) -
2000 Thierry Allemand Cornas Reynard - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Cornas
A little musty and slightly muted on the nose with some cherry and forest notes and a hint of flowers. Similar notes on the palate and medium finish. Not a bad wine, but this was underwhelming compared to the rest. Fell a bit short of expectations, hopefully this was just an off bottle. -
1997 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
Nice nose with tart fruit, cherries, savory notes, and smoke. The palate also feels quite smokey with some berries, and cherries, and overall relatively light in weight. Good finish. A nice wine that has aged well but overall it was less interesting than most of the other wines. The last two times I had this wine, I really enjoyed it, so it could have been an off bottle. (92 points) -
1996 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
Gorgeous nose with brine, smoked meat, pepper, violets, olives, and forest notes. Nice acidity with bright fruit, more cherries, pepper, and spices on the palate. Long finish. Fantastic wine with lovely complexity that has aged beautifully. The palate in particular is spectacular. (96 points)
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Great data points, and great notes. Haven’t had 96 Chave in a few years and that is a great wine when on. 12 Allemand is always superb.
Agree with Alan on the Dom. It was missing a midpalate to stand up to the trappings.
The 2006 Allemand was my WOTN by a wide margin. I think it acted like a Burgundy which skewed my opinion. The nose was ridiculous.
I’m pretty sure the 1997 Chave was an off bottle. Boring flat palate, similar to mild heat damage.
The Meursault was super yummy.
I need more time with a Chave. So much going on, so deep. Not as charming as the Allemands. I like Chave in off vintages.
The Jamet to me was clearly too young. Not tannic, but shy. Like Rich said, a little tapenade, and even that took a while to come out; in five years there will be a lot of tapenade. Perfectly balanced elegant wine.
The 12 Allemand several years ago was my first Allemand (thanks Alan) and for me revelatory, blew some very rare Rhones off the table, the potential upside was massive. This time, still too young.
The Labet was a hyperactive talented child bouncing off of walls. See you in a few years.
I learned a lot. The number of bottles was not excessive for me because it was a masterclass. I don’t think I’ll need to compare these producers again. In fact my main residual feeling is, I want to sit down with a single bottle of Chave in the near future, they are a deep dark dive.
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Excessible ballin’. 