What do folks think about the 2016 Janasse CdP (base line)? I am new to CdP and tasted a few of them, and the Janasse felt less ripe, with more spice and sous bois than others I had tasted. Are there 2016s less fruit bombs than prior years? Will these age 5-10 years comfortably?
Shan, the base cuvee Janasse should be less ripe, sweet and extracted than the luxe cuvees. That said, I’ve gone strictly old school and no longer buy Janasse.
Shan,
I would say if your tastes are for less fruit forward wines, Janasse is probably not for you. I personally love their wines and certainly hold them for 10 years and beyond.
That’s what I was trying to figure out. I had the baseline against 2015 and 2016 Vieux telegraphe, and preferred the Janasse. My note on the 2015 telegraph was “a little caramel, cough syrup” and a big x on 2016. Ie the Janasse baseline felt less bombastic than the others.
I haven’t tasted either of these wines in 16, but your comparison goes against the styles of these wines. Janasse is made to emphasize ripe fruit. VT, coming from la Crau is all about sous bois and animale. Maybe these are two atypical renditions of the wines. It happens. But that is why you are getting the reactions you are getting.
The 2016 Les Collines [CNDP] is a straight forward, commercial, branded/bought in grapes (?) that appears to be created for the hospitality industry. Despite the well regarded vintage, it’s basically a soft Cotes du Rhone that needs to be drunk up. Over 3 days open, it didn’t develop complexity, but it was pleasant / enjoyable / fruity over the first couple days. It started showing tired fennel, licorice near the end. The label, and the price, were attractive - a product of all the dislocations of COVID shutdows so this 14.5% abv blend found its way out of foreign restaurant wine lists and into the US market, which was buying & throwing back wine gleefully in the 2020-2021 era. There was not an iota of sediment in this, which might be appealing to some consumers, but tends to a red flag for me after some years. I’ll give this a B, but I’m biased upwards to most Rhone blends.
If one sees this, and considers purchasing based on the pretty label and vintage regard, I would not pay more than a Cotes du Rhone price.
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