WTN: Rollan de By, Inama, Chapoutier Barbe-Rac

[Jenise]

2000 Rollan de By (Cru Bourgois), Medoc
Still working my way through the cheap 2000 Bordeauxs in our cellar, something I started doing for Wine Focus and realized, from the number of iffy wines I found, that I need to keep after. Many are perilously close to the end of life. As is this one: pleasant Bordeaux flavors with Medoc dust and herbs, but none of the resonance from the best of this class I've tried so far, the Larose Trintaudon. No leather, and a bit dry muddiness obscures the finish, even more so after an hour in a decanter. Is definitely a year or three past it's best moment. I better take a look at my 2001's.

2006 Inama Soave, Italy
What a glass of joy. Delicious, harmonious soave with Inama's typical lemony presentation but not the overarching acidity that has marred some vintages I've tasted. Strangely for a wine so young, lots of tartrate crystals in the bottle. Does this mean it got frozen somewhere along the way?

1999 Chapoutier Barbe-Rac, Chateneuf du Pape
Wow. It makes me so sad every time I taste a wine like this that I wasn't acquiring southern Rhones earlier. Beautiful in a full-figured, androgynous way with warm, giving red fruits surrounded by both masculine leathery notes and feminine floral perfume. Drinks great right now but the ample tannins should hold it on this plateau for years.

Jenise,

A certain noted wine critic living in suburban Washington called 2000 the "best vintage in the history of Bordeaux".
So, obviously, you must be completely off-base in your appreciation.
Right?

Alex R.

Thanks for these notes, too! I am very happy to see you praise the Inama, have a couple. Top of my "to try" white list now. Would have done tonight, but match would have been tricky.

Alex, I know how much you love criticizing Parker, but a $15 modernista that is an early maturer is scarcely a sign that it's not a great vintage. Looking at the Wine Focus that Jenise mentions, most of the 2000s got good reviews, except a Reserve de la Comtesse and a wine I never had heard of. If knowledgable people start feeling the wines designed for aging are failing, then that would be a sign of a less than exciting vintage. As Jenise, others, and I discussed before , the mostly Merlot modern styled wines seem to be best within 3-5 years of release. I've drunk most of my mostly Merlot Right Bankers except for GCC St Emilions and Pomerols (Rollan de By is left bank, but mostly Merlot). Only ones I have left are single bottles of Haut-Chaigneau, Epicurea de Martinet, maybe one other. The more serious wines I'm cellaring without trepidation.

PS wine can precipitate out tartar crystals at temps above freezing. As long as cork seems secure I wouldn't worry

I too found the Inama delightful and not heavy handed re the acidity..I just went back to my local store to reload..

Jenise,

I opened a bottle of the Rolland '96 the other day, the last of a rather disappointing batch that I had bought a few years back. I posted the note here http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=15106 at the beginning of April. To my surprise the wine had opened up, so I wonder (optimist that I am), if it is possible that the wine could still be transformed? I hope so, because I still have a couple of bottle of th 2000 left.

Simon

Dale,

I was just being ironic - making fun of Parker and poking fun at Jenise at the same time!

Despite Parker's outrageous hyperbole and the inevitable disappointments along the way, yes, 2000 is a great vintage.

OK?

Best regards,
Alex R.

Jenise,

What a coincidence. I just got back from a lunch of Cru Bourgeois 2000 tasted blind with and without food and the number one wine was Rollan de By. Most of us were pretty surprised by this,thinking that more famous names like Siran or Sociando Mallet would come out number one. Hopefully I can post notes soon.

Jay

I last opened a bottle of the 2000 Rollan de By in 1/07 and while it had pretty good fruit, I remember it had some astringency on the finish even then. I have one more left, will have to open it soon.

Did you find the Inama Soave locally? Last time I was at Haggens they were still selling the 2003 version.

[David M. Bueker]

Hi Bob-ness thought the 2000 Rollan de By would be a 10 year wine (in 2003).

[Jenise]

I last opened a bottle of the 2000 Rollan de By in 1/07 and while it had pretty good fruit, I remember it had some astringency on the finish even then. I have one more left, will have to open it soon.

Did you find the Inama Soave locally? Last time I was at Haggens they were still selling the 2003 version.

Yes, Gabe's got it at Haggens Ferndale. Btw, if you didn't know (or I didn't already mention it), where Ferndale was previous-to-Gabe the least interesting wine department in the Haggens chain, under Gabe it's become by far the most interesting. He's not only outselling Bellingham he's pulling customers out of Bellingham, and therefore getting pick of the litter and pretty much carte blanche from management to stock whatever he wants to. He has a great eye for what's interesting.

[Jenise]

Jenise,

What a coincidence. I just got back from a lunch of Cru Bourgeois 2000 tasted blind with and without food and the number one wine was Rollan de By. Most of us were pretty surprised by this,thinking that more famous names like Siran or Sociando Mallet would come out number one. Hopefully I can post notes soon.

Jay

Now isn't THAT interesting. It suggests my bottle must have been flawed in one of those microscopic, undetectable ways, because there's no way this bottle would have received that kind of accolade from your friends. How long was your bottle open prior to tasting, if you know?

We just popped and poured. Drank it over 2 hours. You didn't note if you had yours with food. In our case, without food, it was good but nothing special. Much better with food.

[Jenise]

We just popped and poured. Drank it over 2 hours. You didn't note if you had yours with food. In our case, without food, it was good but nothing special. Much better with food.

Good data point. We drank ours both before dinner and with dinner (a pork-and-chicken meatloaf loaded with parm cheese, mint and chinese black bean sauce, so all kinds of good wine-friendly things there). It was definitely better with food, but at the same time, the wine itself didn't improve over the two hours or so we drank it. Had there been other wines to compare it with, it would have suffered even more.

Have to wonder now, with your accolades and Simon's evidence that other good vintages of this wine aged well, if my bottle wasn't just playing dead. Like I said, it didn't show any flaws but tiredness.

A certain noted wine critic living in suburban Washington . . .

Who might that be?

Surely geography counts for something over there in County Claret.

Where *else* would you situate Monkton, Maryland, USA?

I was in that part of the world last year.
Suburban Washington is the only way to describe it.
People think nothing of driving hours every day to and from work.

Best regards,
Alex R.

Well, as Clinton is from Baltimore, a larger city than DC, and much closer to Monktown, I'd guess he'd call it suburban Baltimore.

Yes, Dale, one or other of those godforsaken places.

Alex

[David M. Bueker]

Yes, Dale, one or other of those godforsaken places.

Alex

Hey...my wife is from Baltimore!

Then it must not be godforsaken.
Scratch godforsaken.

Alex

[David M. Bueker]

Then it must not be godforsaken.
Scratch godforsaken.

Alex

Well I think Yaniger is from Baltimore.

Jenise,

thanks for your posting on the 1999 Charpoutier. I was just about to ask if anyone has had recent experieince with the Barbe Rac and it sounds wonderful.

MIke

[Jenise]

Jenise,

thanks for your posting on the 1999 Charpoutier. I was just about to ask if anyone has had recent experieince with the Barbe Rac and it sounds wonderful.

MIke

Glad to be of service. I can add that this is the second bottle in six months, and they showed equally well.

My Cellartracker says I have 77 bottles of 2000 Bordeaux....for a minute there you had me worried that we'd have to plow through them ASAP, but like others, I've found my 2000's to be youthful, not over the hill. Most have opened up after hours in decanter or even not until the next day. To me that indicates they're still evolving, at least I hope so. One of the best buys I ever made was a case of the 1998 Larose Trintaudon, of which we just drank the last bottle. It was definitely NOT over the hill yet...