I feel terrible for bringing back such memories! I shudder every time I think of the 1998s of mine I tried, let alone all the latter Frey rubbish! And too have tried such things on your honeymoon - that’s a real shame.
If you want some nice Hermitage then Guigal have surprised me with their quality on many an occasion. I rather like Colombier, but these are quite reductive and need time. If you are ever offered any Graillot Hermitage then buy, Buy, BUY!!
I hope you’ve had enough decent Rhône wine by now to make up for those early horrors - if only someone had warned you sooner!
Just ordered a couple 2018 Lionnet Terre Brûlée - thanks for the recommendation, David.
BTW, I know berserkers are horrified by thread drift (heh), but pandemic for me has been about exploring Cornas, and this year I’ve been thrilled with 2018 Mickael Bourg, Lemenicier and the house you’ve already mentioned - Gilles. Lemenicier might be a little modern, but I’m wondering if you’ve tired Bourg.
Alas, no. I’ve been buying loads of Lionnet (because there’s a merchant selling it very affordably here) and Gilles (because it is so sexy!). I’ll look out for the two you mention.
There’s an awful lot of pleasure to be had in exploring Cornas. I organised a Northern Rhône tasting for 12 people a few months ago at which everyone would aim to bring a young and an old bottle. Almost all the old bottles were Cornas. Allemand to Michel to Verset, old being 05 to 78. We could not have drank better!
David, fun thread, good to see you posting again. I’m glad you mentioned Lionnet as a I had my first go with this producer with the 16 Terre Brulee a few months back. Elegant and poised, you could just see the potential written all over it if given due time sideways. Cheers, Dale
So, popped one of the 2017s last night. Almost attains “mostly harmless” category in the immortal words of the Galactic Encyclopedia.
Tasted between 1 and four hours after decant. Minimal evolution.
Nose. Plummy, rather muted. Mystery grape.
Palate. Meh. Smooth to point of boredom; easy, zero grip. Tannins way over in the next parish. Low acid. Like a 60% scale model of a Napa. Plummy (more on stewed side than jammy) , slightly peppery finish. Not as apparently alcoholic as might have been expected. Unexciting. Poor match for bbq steak, which is failing its primary job description. Now, what do I do with second bottle ….
What is also interesting is the Josh Raynolds (Vinous) and Richard Hemmings (Purple pages) seem to have been tasting two different wines. My bottle definitely closer to Hemmings’ but rather less muddy.
Josh Raynolds Mar 20. 92 pts Inky ruby. Smoke-accented cherry and dark berries on the deeply perfumed nose, which takes on olive and baking spice nuances with air. Smooth, concentrated and appealingly sweet, offering plush boysenberry, cherry and singed plum flavors and a spicy touch of cracked pepper. Finishes broad, sweet
and long, with harmonious tannins and repeating spiciness.
Richard Hemmings. Mar 2019 . 15.5 Juicy but crude primary fruit, with a burnt or stewed edge that seems to detract from freshness. Muddy in tone, rather than crystalline. (RH)
I’m terribly happy to see you back posting here. Thanks for your sharing your equally sharp palate and wit. Reading this thread made me smile and forget the marathon day of work that preceded it. Much appreciated.
1985 La Chapelle is one of the top 10 wines I have drunk in my life. Amazing wine. Recently, many of the Jaboulet 2016-2018 wines have showed up on the discount web-wine-pusher-sites. I bit. Knowing fully well the history and controversy surrounding recent vintages, I still “put my money down”. Like you Davy, I will sit on them for a long while as I’m lucky to own many vintages of other producers. I still have my sole bottle of 1989 La Chapelle. Thank you Davy for your analysis and truthful words. Don’t be such a stranger(exclamation point)
The 89 is pretty good, you should enjoy that! I suggest not too many years longer. But then there’s a bit of bottle variation with that wine so you may have a goodie!
So I tried Bourg 19, decanted for four hours as it was fiercely tannic on opening (and I also had to get it into London and the train was delayed). It has the merest hint of a shade of the beginnings of a suggestion of Brett when I first opened it, but that blew off in no time. When I smelled it after decanting I thought it was the living spit of Allemand, which is something a few people have mentioned about it. Four hours in it was still very tannic, but had beautiful, beautiful fruit, a wonderful earthiness, dazzling complexity and a great finish of minerality, fruit and a lot of tannin. Harmony was wonderful, so beautiful despite its tannin. I was moved by trying a new wine (to me) that clearly so very good. I’ve got three more bottles. Thanks for the heads up!
I’ve also just discovered Bourg thanks to WB. When I tasted the 2018 it instantly called to mind Allemand. So glad to have these as an alternative for small fraction of the price
I was presenting the Bourg 19 blind to some friends. Before decanting I poured myself a small shot, sniffed it and thought, “If they don’t think this is Allemand Cornas there’s something wrong with them”. Two former Captains of the Oxford blind tasting team tasting. One guessed Clusel-Roch’s Grands Places, the other? Allemand Cornas… Yeah! It was good, properly good, with harmony and balance mixed up with those big tannins. A producer I will follow!
David - I just posted my TN on the 85 La Chapelle as a new thread. TLDR version: great wine, a classic, but not getting any better at this point (at least my bottle).
Tiny correction: Gerard Jaboulet died in (I think) July 1997, definitely BEFORE the 1997 harvest. I’ ve been there in August … and everybody was very sad …
The 1997 LaChap is still a fine wine, 1998 is the 1st catastrophe …