Funny, I read my review from 2006 and nothing’s changed in the last 8 years.
“I guess I was just looking for so much more. A little too acidic, a little too short. After 11 years and the ‘95’ point review, it just wasn’t close to the ‘Great’ Cote Rotie experiences. I wasn’t looking for 1990 or 1990 La Turque (or even 1991 La Mordoree), but this wasn’t close.” (85 pts.)
Peter, I’m just speaking from personal experience. I’ve had many wines fill out over time and become longer on the palate just from a relatively short time of aeration. (say two hours). And I wouldn’t attribute that to a change in temperature either.
I’m not saying it’s a great bottle of wine as I’ve never had it. Just seems like a half hour is a short period of time to make a judgment. Beat it up in the glass a bit and see if it fills out. Maybe it will fill out, maybe it won’t.
Hmmm. It is getting better. At about 2 hours of air I think. Acid down a little, fruit up a little. No bacon fat, nothing that says “quality Cote Rotie”, but it’s tastier. Maybe 89-91 points.
Put the cork back in the bottle. Then pour yoursef a few ounces every day for about a week. See if you can coax something interesting out of the bottle. Eventually.
I’ve got a single bottle of the '98 so I hope this wine is in general a good bottling; were the 95 points from Robert Parker (he’s Chapoutier’s #1 booster) ?
Frank the 98 is drinking well so drink now. I do a lot of day 2 and 3 reviews on wines and some improve greatly, a few no change and very few are worse unless it is something that is $10.
Ok. Day 2. I left about 1/2 the bottle in the decanter overnight. And… Not too much has changed. A little too tangy for me, a little too little fruit. No bacon fat, etc. If I got served this in a ‘by the glass’ restaurant as the house red, I’d be fine at $8 - $10 per glass. For a 95 point Parker wine, BOOOOO!
I’ve actually never had a Chapoutier wine that wowed me. I’ve had some I thought were good but not amazing. They have seemed rustic to the point of needing more time but I’m not so sure how they will turn out. Still have a few in the cellar so we will see.
chapoutier’s wines are terrible across the board, especially when you consider their prices. i can’t think of a single one that i’ve had that made me want to drink more. parker did a huge disservice to rhone fans by rating these highly.
IMHO certainly not true - there are marvellous Chapoutier bottles - 89+90 Mordoree are only two, 92 Pavillon is another, 96 Granits another … 99 Mordoree …
However, the 95 is not a really great Cote-Rotie, but it is far better than the 85-point rating suggests.
Maybe the policy of opening and immediately decanting could be a reason.
It IS A DIFFERENCE if you pop and decant —> a lot of air in a few seconds which can make the wine harsh, acidic and short on the palate -
OR if you slow ox the wine … pull the cork, let it breathe for 4-5 hours, then serve smoothly …
No time in the glass can repare the flush of oxigen when decanted to early and quickly …
Nathan. Nope, was time to drink it. That’s what wine is for!
Gerhard. I hope you’re right re; '99 Mordoree as I went a little long here. So for this wine, I popped and decanted, swirled it around and waited 1/2 hour. Had a glass at 1/2 hour mark (not so good), and at the 2 hour mark (a little better) and at the 24 hour mark (same as before). Not sure what else I can do except to go down to the old folks home, borrow a respirator from one of the oldies, and hook the decanter directly up to it’s own oxygen source! In the end, this wine sucks.