As you probably know, many Northern Rhone producers, including Jaboulet, had multiple lots in the olden days. There were several different lots of the '83 La Chapelle, for instance – some lighter, some more concentrated. They were bottled at different times and released in the US over a span of a year or a year and a half. (I know because I bought some in SF and much later found a bottle of new stock in NY. I’m quite sure they were all Wildman.)
I don’t know if by 1990 there was more effort made to make a uniform wine.
I think Robin Yapp in the UK had first choice, because every time we did a side by side comparison, the Yapp wines were clearly better. For instance Kermit’s 1983 bought on release seem to be fading while Yapp’s are still going strong.
The other oddity is that magnums seem to be the best of all.
Sadly, I can’t find my notes from the K Lynch vs. East Coast importer Chave tasting.
However, looking for them, I went through my Rhone tasting notes for the 80s and early 90s. At the time, I lived on Russian Hill in SF, not far from Singer & Foy, a small shop that stocked exclusively (or nearly) Kermit Lynch wines. (Steve Singer was Alice Waters’ husband, so was hooked into the Berkeley food and wine world.)
S&F had a tasting bar, which I took advantage of very regularly. I’m just amazed now to see what was available by the glass at modest prices. Some highlights:
March 1986: Chave blanc and rouge 1980, 81, 82, 83.
July 1989: 1983 Vieux Telegraphe, Beaucastel, Verset, Rostaing Cote Blonde, Jamet Cote Rotie.
February 1991 (seven-plus years after the vintage): 1983 Beaucastel, Clape, Gentaz-Dervieux Cote Blonde, La Chapelle, Chave.
I seem to remember Langdon-Shiverick was the “east of the Mississippi” importer for Chave, for a period. That may have been post- '94 if there was a change then.
I have had very good luck with '90 La Chapelle. I used to get this at Harry’s downtown. He bought most of his stuff from Chadderdon back then, but I have no idea if that was who had imported those bottles. My current stash was imported by Wildman and these have been great. The only time I recall having a bad experience was a bottle that came from a friend’s cellar and was bought on release and stored at 50 degrees. It was a monolith that seemingly hadn’t budged since release (notice the color in the second picture).
I have had good and bad experience with '89/'90 Beaucastel. The last time I had '90 Chave was at the dinner with the shut down La Chapelle. I recall this bottle drinking young too. I have some friends who had it recently and they raved about it. I was at an auction shortly thereafter and picked up some magnums of '90 Hermitage, or so I thought. For some reason (too much alcohol maybe?) I assumed they were Chave, but when I got the bill it was apparent these were La Chapelle. Oh well, thankfully I like La Chapelle.
Yes, I checked and the 1991 Chave that I bought on close-out in 1994 has an Langdon-Shiverick label. I guess that’s when they ceased to handle it. At some point, Jean-Louis Chave’s American wife took over on both coasts, as I recall.
Sorry to ressurect this from the dead, but can anyone tell me whats going on with this foil? Cant find any other pictures of 1990s with non red Jaboulet foils.
That’s definitely not an original capsule. It looks like someone applied a generic capsule (poorly) for some reason. I wouldn’t bid on the lot at anything other than a steep discount without a convincing explanation that it was done for a good reason.
Yes, ‘89 Beaucastel was infamous for this. From my experience and that of friends, the East coast Beaucastel were mostly fine, the west coast mostly not. Personally never had a bad bottle.
