Chave.

WINE TALK
21

My view is they should rip up all those vines and just plant Syrah.

22

Lol I used to think of the pesky bottles of Blanc I had to buy to get some Rouge as “hostage wines”. Then I realised I loved them. I fully understand what people dislike about them.

Thanks for the great list of notes! Wish I had some 91 left. Interesting that the consensus seems to be the 99 isn’t so flash. The one bottle I opened last year was tight, young, backwards and far from “overripe”, not even fruit driven. But not much fun, so definitely perplexing. I hope another 10 years sorts it out.

23

Thanks for the great notes Adrian.

I love the '97. It’s not the most structurally impressive vintage of Chave, but who cares. It is one of the most consistently joyful, balanced, and delicious ones I have drunk. To boot it has never shut down. A big ouch on the '78. Sorry that happened. Brutal.
I’m glad the '01 is showing well. I haven’t opened any of mine yet and looks like now is a good time. I agree that the '95 is not ready for prime drinking yet, and I suspect the '99 is just too young. I recently had a terrific bottle of the '98 and hope your next bottle shows closer to what I had. It was a real “perform above expectations” wine. I think the '90 is variable. I’ve given it btw 96-99 pts over the 5 bottles I remember putting TNs on. My most recent bottle in '21 was near perfect, but no great wines at 30 plus years. I’ve never had the '91 red and hope to someday. Sounds stunning. What a great treat to try all these.

Thank you again. That was a terrific write up of a pretty epic tasting.

Cheers

24

Man, I feel bad for people who can’t appreciate the huge variety of white wines out there. If I could drink Chave Blanc even once a month, I’d be a very happy drinker :slight_smile:

25

And for many of us that can and do, it’s still a hard pass.

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26

That must be because someone is forcing you to drink it more often now.

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27

I honestly don’t understand the point of reviewing and scoring a class of wine you know you don’t like.

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28

Just like they should confiscate Jaboulet’s and Chapoutier’s holdings so that they can be given to someone who actually knows how to make Hermitage.

29

That is an incredibly myopic point of view.

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30

I agree with Alan. Your CT notes from May trashing a whole slate of 2019 CdPs were incredibly unhelpful. You obviously don’t like the category and those slanted tasting notes add nothing for those of us who appreciate those wines (among many others) in terms of differentiating between the different offerings, deciding when they are best to drink, etc. It takes little skill or effort to just blanket dump on a whole class of wines, be it white Hermitage, CdP, or whatever. If you really dislike a whole category, you should keep your categorically negative comments to yourself (as my mother used to say, if you have nothing nice to say, it’s best to say nothing at all).

31

Those notes are incredibly helpful to the many more who have a similar palate. If only people who love the wines would review those wines, CT would be useless or we would live in a Suckling world.

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32

That‘s what they always said and I‘m sure it was true for a many years but premox made aged white Hermitage a minefield. Not only a white Burgundy problem.

33

[bullshit.gif]

I rec. to drink Chinese wines - all from confiscated vineyards …

34

I’ve actually heard the most recent Jaboulet stuff is better, but haven’t tried them.

35

As we’ve discussed ad nauseum Gerhard, since you have an objectively bad palate, that’s not a meaningful recommendation.

36

I tried the '91 on release here, and didn’t care for it much. I thought at the time it might have been damaged, but following the '90 and to my still New World oriented tastes at the time, I don’t know. Then two years later we had it at L’Oustau de Baumanière with what was the tiniest leg of lamb I’ve ever seen, and it was my best Chave ever. Alive and popping like '97 but with more of everything. Down to my last bottle of '97 and I have no more '91, unfortunately, but plenty of '95 because that damned thing just refuses to turn the corner. Would love to see notes on 2005 in context like this because that’s the last one I cellared and have never tried it.

p.s. I sortof know what you mean about the white not being your thing, fat and waxy and not too much acid, but I dig it. Gladly ordered these in pairs when the price for both was so reasonable.

37

I don’t think for a second that it’s a sign for a better palate to tell the “winemaker of the winemakers 2022” what he should do with his white vines …
[oops.gif]
J-L would probably say “if you don’t understand Hermitage blanc, drink Chardonnay instead” [dance-clap.gif]

38

It’s true, you don’t need a great palate to tell Jean Louis what do do with Hermitage blanc; a mediocre one is perfectly sufficient.

39

To be fair, while it is not enjoyable, the in between phase that white Hermitage goes through is not premox. It is temporary, and once it passes, the wines tend to turn into what Adrian experienced in the '86, but often it needs a lot of time. I very much agree that the wines, even outstanding mature ones are not for everyone. I am someone who appreciates them. They are complex, contemplative, deep, rich wines that are very different than most white wines I like to drink, and even a great old white Hermitage is for me at most a two glass experience. Kind of like a dry white version of TBA, essencia or the like in sweet wines. A little can be great, a lot, not so much. YMMV.

Good discussion here. Thanks everyone.

40

What does that mean?