Jeff Leve came through Vancouver, so we of course took this as the excuse to set up a dinner with wines from the Rhone.
1998 Le Brun Servenay Champagne Brut Vielles Vignes – this one has developed some colour and the nose was quite toasty with hints of peach, lots of development on palate, clean and with good length.
2009 Le Vieux Pin Viognier Roussanne – a BC wine with 13% Roussanne. Quite pleasing in that you got solid hints of perfume in the nose, but the same thing came through more powerfully on palate. Smooth and clean, what I’d call a very ‘pretty’ wine. Some Acacia wood used in this.
2005 Alain Voge St. Peray Fleur de Crussol – I’ve had this before and this bottle was less expressive in the nose than expected but was on point on palate. Silky smooth across the tongue, well balanced, and with time the nose deigned to express some apple and spice character.
1998 Delas Hermitage Les Bessards – fairly dark wine with a more than decent nose that included blood, a bit of leather, and hints of mocha, but an absence of pepper. Tasty supple wine that still has plenty of soft tannin, I think this is probably on plateau with a long life ahead.
1990 Dom. Pegau Cuvee Reservee CNduP – hints of black pepper and sweet fruit in the nose, and lots of good fruit density on palate, with excellent flavour concentration and a nice spicy element. This one had been opened four hours before and failed to impress at that time – it needed a lot of time to open up.
2000 Dom. Vielles Julienne Cuvee Reservee CNduP – brilliant wine with dark colour, a slightly funky nose featuring tar and dark fruit, a weighty middle, and excellent length. A herbal element comes out in the nose with time. A real treat and in fine shape after trailing about Europe with Jeff.
1989 Jamet Cote Rotie – going from power to elegance was an interesting segue. This had a typical floral nose with underlays of both currant and anise, and it also had lots of stuffing on palate. Very enjoyable.
2008 Le Vieux Pin Syrah – another BC wine, this one young and not yet developing any complexity, but showing good pure fruit in the nose, well made and with medium length.
1991 Jean Luc Colombo Cornas Les Ruchets – I’ve been slowly working through a case of this since release, and the wine finally lost enough tannin to really start singing only a few years ago. It showed a nice peppery syrah nose, with black fruit and vanilla, and was smooth across the tongue, still retaining non-lethal levels of tannin. In fact it was a juicy pleasing presence in the mouth and it had a decently long finish. Now cruising into endgame it till offers plenty of pleasure – more so than on release when it exhibited tongue stunning levels of tannin.
1995 Chapoutier St. Joseph Les Granits – the fruit in this wine was lighter in terms of characterization – less plum than berry, and it came with a hint of cocoa in the nose. Good body and length. I think this is at peak and has good body and length and complemented the cheese.