EWG does Northern Rhone - Dinner at Conrad's

WINE TALK
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I no longer reside on the east side, but the Eastside Wine Group doesn’t seem to mind. Conrad hosted an amazing dinner on his serene back patio, with a perfect tree lined view and fire roaring in the fireplace. The weather was absolutely perfect and I can’t imagine a better evening than this.

My quickly compiled notes. The bottles were moving quickly; please feel free to correct me if I identified any of the wines incorrectly.

Warmups

1996 Duval Leroy - Always a favorite of mine, this (to me) seems mature. Nice balance of nuttiness and fruit; definitely ready to drink. Doesn’t seem especially complex right now, but I may be distracted by the setting and company.

NV Jacques Selosse Brut Initiale - I had never heard of this wine until this evening, and it was a stunner. Light color and bready nose. Excellent structure and texture in the mouth, and a beautiful contrast of yeast and dough against lemon and apple. A knockout.


Flight 1: Cote-Rotie

Served with a salad featuring roasted beet and avocado.

1991 R. Rostaing Cote Blonde - Nose of coffee and particularly olive, along with tar and an irony/meaty texture and finish. Excellent.

2004 Jamet - Someone at the table said “stems” and nailed it. Excellent, light on its feet, and seems quite acidic compared to the other two wines in this flight. Decanted 6 hours. Wine of the flight for me. Wine of the year for me perhaps.

2003 R. Rostaing La Landonne - Odd nose, herbal? Medicinal? Green olive, super concentrated and long. Blackberry and blood. Interesting, but probably needs time. Popped and poured and opened up little over the perhaps 20 minutes I spent with it.


Flight 2: Cote-Rotie/Crozes-Hermitage

Served with an amazing platter of papardelle, short ribs, roasted tomato, and spinach. I am astounded what Conrad did here!

1999 E. Guigal Brune et Blonde (Cote-Rotie) - Medium bodied and acidic, this is an excellent wine with food. No flaws. Compared to the 2003 La Landonne this is simply great wine.

2002 Gangloff (Cote-Rotie) - Concentrated and slightly tannic, this is excellent. Coffee and tar. I love this! This is a wine that I would love to have in my cellar. Standout wine of a very good flight.

2006 Colombier Cuvee Gaby (Crozes-Hermitage) - Dark and insanely rich. Somewhat tannic and such a baby. This is an excellent and dark wine that nicely complements the short ribs. Too young but all the pieces are here.


Flight 3: Hermitage

Cheese course, and unbelieveable home baked bread. Without a doubt, some of the best cheese I have ever tasted.

1989 Jaboulet la Chappelle - Fully mature to my palate, this is a monster. Super dark fruit and long finish. I would LOVE to spend an evening with this wine.

1995 Chave - Meaty nose, this is another excellent wine. The thing that strikes me here is the balance. I can’t pick out one element of this over the rest.

1997 Chave - Surprisingly similar to the 1995 but more tannic. Still very, very young. My first experience with Chave and now I see what all the fuss is about.

1997 Jaboulet la Chappelle - Ripe, long, sweet tannins. This is wonderful Syrah. Young, but I like 'em like this.

(no way for me to pick a WOTF, these are all knockouts)


Flight 4: Stickies

At this point I was overwhelmed. A platter of Beard Papa’s cream puffs appeared out of nowhere, and corks kept popping.

2003 de Fargues (Sauternes) - Over the top, which I like dessert wine. Huge, sweet, acidic, ripe. I love this. A little goes a long way but there is so much fruit packed in to this little glass of wine.

1997 Climens (Barsac) - Nutty and acidic, much more reserved than the de Fargues. This is a wine that I would love to have a large stash of in the cellar.

2001 Rieussec (Sauternes) - Very closed, this clearly has a tremendous amount of potential but it is sooo young. Can I come back to this in about 10 years? Please? It is giving up so little of what it is right now.

2006 Ojai Vineyard Solomon Vineyard (Chardonnay) - Impressive acidity and fruit, I was unaware Adam was making a dessert wine. This is young as well but is drinking nicely now.


Wow, what a night.

Thank you to the EWG for including me and particularly to Conrad for hosting a truly incredible dinner. Amazing!

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Andrew, thanks for getting the notes up so quickly. Yes, another great night with the EWG. Unfortunately, with the great three course meal, and fantastic cheeses, I undid the positives from a four hour bike ride earlier in the day, but no regrets.

You missed the various whites which were opened to start (and I may have not tasted one of two of them).

The 2004 Copain Rousanne James Berry was well balanced, very enjoyable, and better than the last time I had it, two years ago, but it was overshadowed by two other wines.

The 1967 Paul Jaboulet Aine Hermitage Blanc Chevalier de Sterimberg (in half bottle) was drinking very well, smooth, showing no signs of its age. Finally, someone brings a mature wine to a EWG dinner – thanks Peter

The 2003 Maison Chapoutier Ermitage Blanc Le Meal (in Magnum) was a polar opposite from the Jaboulet. More like an essence (due to low yields, I presume), it was laser sharp and absolutely fascinating. I assume it was partially shut down, but still great. I have little experience with Hermitage Blanc, and only one previous with Chapoutier, but this was, for me, a unique, fascinating wine. Thanks Rick.

As for the reds, I thought the 91 Rostaing was the best by a mile. The only red wine ready to drink, although I missed the 2002 Gangloff, it was gorgeous, with no faults. The 89 Jaboulet, which I brought, was a complete mess, with off over-ripeness. It wasn’t like this four and five years ago, I don’t know what happened, and I am not happy to have a bunch of it. The 1995 Chave was decanted for six hours, and was way too young to appreciate. I’m waiting at least ten years to try another bottle. I thought, based on having tasted it once before, that something was wrong with the bottle of 1997 Chave, which, to me, was diffuse.

The Sauternes were all excellent, with my favorite being the 2003 de Fargues. I’ve never had a Sauternes vintages which was so good so young, and I’d put the de Fargues behind the La Tour Blanche and Suduiraut, and ahead of the Rieussec and Coutet

I echo Andrew’s thanks to Conrad, who has proved, again, to be the consummate host.

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EWG DOES NORTHERN RHONES - Conrad’s Abode (5/24/2009)
Conrad again hosted the East side Wine Group at his home for a night of good wine and great company. He also cooked up a spectacular meal for us just because he likes to. Thanks a million for being such a gracious host Conrad!

If I had known nearly all of the North Rhone wines would be far from young in years I would have sourced something older. What a great lineup we ended up with. Even though my favorite on the evening was probably a Hermitage it seems clear to me that I still prefer Cote-Rotie. I liked the rocky complexity in those wines more than the generous fruit offered by the Hermitages. I’d give the 95 Jaboulet my WOTN followed closely by the 04 Jamet and the 91 Rostaing.

  • 2004 Copain Roussanne James Berry Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles
    Some banana on the nose. This displayed nice balance with a touch of minerals and a nice lean mouth feel. Maybe a touch of heat mars it a tiny bit but different from most whites from California.
  • 2003 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Blanc Le Méal - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
    I’ve never had a wine quite like this before. Initially very tight with the nose only really giving a candle wax note over a rich waxy palate. It was from a magnum so we revisited over the course of the evening easily seeing the expression of the wine open from it’s dense fruit. The palate became big and full yet very even with some nice creaminess and showing some nice toasty caramel notes. It was labeled a “dessert” wine but there was no residual sugar to me nor really any sense of sweetness. I’m not a big Rhone white fan but this was terrific and should age for a long time.
  • 1967 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage Blanc Chevalier de Sterimberg - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
    From a 375. Excellent nose of toasty honey with little signs of oxidation. Palate was nice and even showing good acidity but the fruit didn’t really back it up. Still, it gave a lot more than I expected.
  • N.V. Jacques Selosse Champagne Brut Initiale - France, Champagne
    Definitely towards the leaner mineral styled Champagnes this displayed typical BdB characteristics especially after some air. Complex nose showing some buttered bread and an oxidative note later on. Clean elegant palate with lots of acidity and some minerals that really picked up some complexity with air. Now I see what all the talk is about.


  • 1991 Rene Rostaing Côte-Rôtie Côte Blonde - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
    Expressive nose of lava rocks and charred meat. Very well balanced with a growing finish. This got better and better in the glass. One of my favs on the evening. Excellent.
  • 2003 Rene Rostaing Côte-Rôtie La Landonne - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
    I’m marking this one as flawed since I have no other way to describe it. Big nose of moldy wood, wet leather but mostly like a cat litter box that is well over do for a change. The palate shows a citrus rind grip on it that is bitter. The overwhelming litter box aroma was all over the palate as well. Lot’s of swirling and waiting didn’t abate it any either. NR (flawed)
  • 2004 Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
    This showed very young but very nice. A lovely wine that will repay ten years in the cellar handsomely. Violets, wet rocks and some herbally stems coming singularly but balanced. Lot’s of young fruit on a well balanced palate that is still tight with a nice dash of Christmas spice. Another favorite on the evening.


  • 1999 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie Brune et Blonde - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
    Nicely rustic nose showing some woodiness. Balanced and concentrated with late acting tannin.
  • 2002 Gangloff Côte-Rôtie - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
    Great complex nose showing some rockiness and pepper. Juicy palate that shows a lack of fruit being fairly watery. A big let down after an inviting nose.
  • 2006 Domaine du Colombier Crozes-Hermitage Cuvée Gaby - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Crozes-Hermitage
    Decanted about 3 hours prior to consumption. Slight bretty reduction on the nose with some lava rocks. Dark, dense and concentrated. Lot’s of fruit and very tannic. This stood out as painfully young next to most of the wines on the night. Very good potential but needs another 8-10 years.


  • 1989 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
    Nose was on the older tired side showing some oxidation though it improved with air. Plenty of fruit on the palate showing a baked quality and having a round structure that left it without much of a finish though plenty of tannin. Probably from a hot year.
  • 1997 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
    Ripe nose of baked fruits, kind of flat. Juicy and lean but a bit rough. Tight and tannic, bit disjointed. Probably needs more air but showed plenty of ripeness like the other La Chapelle on the evening.
  • 1995 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
    Lovely expressive complex nose. Spices, some stem notes with lava rocks and a touch of brett. Still young on the palate with lot’s of fruit showing great balance and plenty of tannin. This was hard to put down. Probably my WOTN. Excellent.
  • 1997 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
    Touch of TCA on the nose. Juicy palate that seemed to be fading to acid and tannin. NR (flawed)


  • 2001 Château Rieussec - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
    huge nose of apricots and candied honeyed tangerines. Huge and fat. A bit clumsy right now for an '01. There’s a very good wine here that probably needs air and rest.
  • 2003 Château de Fargues - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
    Honeyed sugary fruits and tangerine skins on the nose. Sappy peaches, apricots and citrus on the palate. This displayed the best balance of the Sauternes for me. It’s a sweet confection but a very tasty one. Very nice.
  • 1997 Château Climens - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac
    Smells of a fruit torte. Some bitter citrus on the finish this drank a bit chunky and disjointed.

Posted from CellarTracker

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Huge thanks to the Green’s for opening up their house and sharing so much fantastic food!

Also, thanks to everyone for sharing such gems from your cellars.

  • 2003 M. Chapoutier Ermitage Blanc Le Méal - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
    This was outstanding. I went back to it multiple times and was intrigued on each occasion. Thanks Rick!
  • 2003 Rene Rostaing Côte-Rôtie La Landonne - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
    I don’t know where to put this. Strange. Smells like cat pee. The palate follows. The strong citrus elements were interesting but too dominating.
  • 2004 Domaine Jamet Côte-Rôtie - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
    I was digging this. Aromatically it really stood out with its youthfulness. The WC was showing but not dominating. A nice balance of spice, rocks and fruit. Very pretty yet far from being a wimp. At the end of the night with more palate fatigue, the tannins were way too much for me. I’ll see this one in 15 years.
  • 2002 Gangloff Côte-Rôtie - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
    I have never had a Gangloff. This was quite different than the other wines. Signs of reduction. Funkier aromas. Complex and animal. Juicy acidity. I think I liked this more than others.
  • 1989 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
    Probably the most rustic wine of the night for me. Seemed to have a lot of life left.
  • 1995 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
    Still showing very young but it is effortless to drink. The dusty tannins cover the fruit and earth. By far the most elegant in the Hermaitage flight.

I really enjoyed this tasting.

Cheers,

Jason