Here's why I love Chambers - Clape 1994 Cornas

WINE TALK
#1

In NYC last week, was looking for a wine for Saturday night dinner with some maturity but without soaking a paycheck. Chambers Street had this wine on the shelf for $65. I had only tasted a few '94 Northern Rhone wines, and didn’t recall much about the vintage other than I knew it wasn’t a legend.

So often, retailers will BS about quality, potential, etc. I simply asked behind the counter what they thought about the vintage. Quick, confident reply: “High acid, but not viciously underripe. If you dig acid, it’s going to be very good. If you want a monster, it won’t.”

As it turned out, this was exactly right.

Clape 1994 Cornas

Classy, gorgeous nose of a mature Cornas: Mint, olive tapenade and a permeating soil note. Some dark fruit, not at all betraying sweetness. In the mouth, that beautiful mint / menthol, along with roasted herbs, peppered meat, olives and tangy iron. The acidity is a hair strong, but not overbearingly so. I would have preferred a bit more flesh on the bones, but it came exactly as advertised at Chambers Street. How refreshing to be able to depend on a store in regards to a 17-year-old wine.

#2

it’s a quite solid vintage for northern rhone in my experience. i’ve had good luck with the following over the past year or so:

chave - rouge et blanc
jamet
ogier
verset
clape
jaboulet la chapelle - this past weekend actually (thanks MC)
robert michel geynale

and yeah, Chambers is good people.

#3

I tend to think of Chave and Jamet on mythic planes, rarely to erode.

Would you agree it’s a higher-toned vintage? A little less stuffing and density, but still strong?

#4

I’d always ignored '94 til Jay Miller showed me a '94 Allemand. Since then I’ve always been on the lookout for '94s, and for Allemands…

#5

94 was a pretty good year in the North and the South in the Rhone. Sounds like a nice bottle.
Cheers.

#6

Yes, that 94 Reynard he served us a couple of years ago underground at Chelsea was mind-blowing. I saved my lone bottle for a special occasion in April… only to find it corked. Grrrrrrh!

The Reynard is not at all tart. To the contrary, it pretty fleshy.

In April, I paired it with the 94 Clape, which seemed shrill and tart next to the Allemand. I was reared on Northern Rhones, but the Clape was too acidic for my palate.

As Evan noted, the 94 La Chapelle is also surprisingly good. It never had a lot of structure – it was surprisingly low in acid – but it had very good aromatics and went down easy. It has provided very pleasant drinking over the past 10 years.

#7

i wouldn’t characterize the vintage as high-toned, but would expect Clape to be that way. other wines have plenty of stuffing.

#8

What a great shop and a great bottle. Love the Clape… and not the gonna set the bushes on fire kind. :wink:

#9

Damnit Jay stop showing off the good stuff! [soap.gif] [snort.gif] [wink.gif]