Some fans of Northern Rhone wines got together at Brad L's place last night for dinner and to taste some really nice examples of Syrah. Brad did a great job of organizing everything, and put together several well thought out flights of wines. The wines for the most part showed very well and were reflective of their terroir. It was very educational for me to try these wines side by side, and a great pleasure to meet everyone last night. Most of the folks at dinner are much more experienced tasters than me, even several in the wine trade, and I learned a great deal listening to their perspective on the wines.
Starting off
The 2000 Rieussac R was the opener for the evening. A dry version from Rieussac that had a baked apple pie, pineapple fruit nose to start, and as it opened developed some floral smells. Nice tart grapefruit acidity and a little creamy oak at the finish. I don't drink much white Bordeaux, but this was enjoyable. What is the deal with these dry Sauternes and the capital letters in the name anyway?
A couple of St Joes
With some salami and other charcuterie a couple of St Joseph wines were poured.
The 1994 Durand Les Coteau was a faded garnet color, that started out a little volatile. It seemed fully mature, with red plum, balsamic and some mushroom flavors. The wine had a real refreshing acidity with very little tannin left. It seemed to show a little more fruit when I tried it several hours after the first glass, with some raisin and licorice. More earth than fruit here though. I would drink these up now.
The second St Joseph was the 1995 Chave Offerus . It was a little darker in color than the Durand, and seemed much younger. The nose was ripe black currant and violets, and was almost a little candied. It had a spicy, black olive flavor with plenty of acid and leaned towards the tart side. There was some definite tannins left, and it finished with a drying mouth feel. I thought this was pretty good and had more life left in it than the Durand.
I think the table was divided over which was preferred of the two St Joseph wines. I would happily drink either again, both had good acidity and went well with the salamis.
Blind 88's
The next two wines were served sort of blind, with the vintage (1988) revealed.
The first wine had a funky nose initially that blew off, and then had some plummy, mushroom, black olive flavors, silky entry, and then a spike of acid in the middle, and finished a little spicy. The tannins seemed almost completely resolved. It was very good overall.
The second mystery 1988 on first pour seemed to be the leaner wine, with a prominent smoky charred note. The mouth feel of the second wine was very pleasurable, almost silky, like a fine Burgundy. The nose continued to improve, with high toned red fruit, hints of coffee, black truffle, and the flavors in the mouth also had a plump sweetness, balanced by very fine acids. This wine was very complex and changed a lot over several hours, but also was very elegant and precise.
Most of the diners thought the second wine was a Hermitage, and I think Dieter guessed the first was a Crozes Hermitage. The guess of Crozes was meet with general derision, as no one thought a CH from 1988 would show as well as wine #1.
Brad pulled the brown bags to reveal #1 as the 1988 Jaboulet Crozes Hermitage Domaine Thalabert and wine #2 as the 1988 JL Chave Hermitage. The 1988 Chave continue to evolve and improve over the night and impressed me as a great wine. I was also impressed at how good the Jaboulet Thalabert was, not in the same league as the Chave, but very nice in its own right.
Brad served a delicious Lamb Daube that had braised over many hours, accompanied by a puree of white vegetables from an Edward Olney recipe that included celeriac and turnips and some other things. The food was excellent, and really a perfect foil for the wines.
Two 91 Cote Roties and a Corker
The first was the 1991 Delas Freres Cote Rotie Signeur de Maugiron . A medium garnet red color, with appealing aromas of violets, meat, and blackberry fruit. The wine seemed pretty mature, and was a little sharp compared with the next wine. The DF faded with time, and I would drink these up soon.
The 1991 Guy Bernard Cote Rotie was the surprise of the night for me. The nose was much richer than the Delas, black currant and leafy notes, also with beef blood, minerals and some licorice. The palate was very juicy and concentrated, with silky tannins and a long finish.
Of the 2 1991s, the Delas Freres showed good typical Cote Rotie flavors and was a nice enough wine but was really outclassed by the Guy Bernard CR, which was really good and one of the standouts of the night for me.
A 1992 Chapoutier Hermitage also served with this flight, but was corked. There seemed to be a very decent wine underneath the musty TCA.
A couple of Robust 97's and a Weird TL
The next flight had a 95 and a 97 Cote Rotie, and a 97 Chave Hermitage. I went back for another bowl of Lamb Daube to go with these wines.
The 1995 Tardieu Laurent Cote Rotie Les Dames Brunes had a weird nose that Jon identified as root beer. After hearing that I was reminded of those artificially flavored barrel shaped root beer hard candies. The wine seemed a little flat in the mouth as well.
The next wine was the 1997 Jamet Cote Rotie . The wine was the darkest one of the night and the nose was almost over the top, with plenty of smoky, roasted meat and bacon. There was some steely minerals, blackberry fruit, flowers, and the palate was riper with less acid than some of the earlier wines. A freaky big wine but still identifiable as a Cote Rotie. This will be interesting to see where it goes with time.
The 1997 JL Chave Hermitage was a hard wine for me to get a handle on. It was a little disjointed at first, with some oak flavors sticking out. There was also beef blood, violets, ripe black fruit, and it seemed a little sweet in the mouth. There was some decent acidity here despite the ripeness. It opened a little more with some graphite minerals showing up, but this seemed really young and did not have the finesse and elegance of the fantastic 1988.
And Now for Something Completely Different
Brad brought out an encore mystery wine, that was very funky on opening, but the funk blew off and the wine had sweet black cassis fruit, with some herbal notes, licorice and a lot of minerals. I enjoyed this a lot, but had no clue to what it was.
The bag came off and the 1981 Domaine Chevalier Graves was on the label. A nice treat, thanks Brad.
There was a 1999 Sauternes that I didn't write down the name, but it was a very nice way to finish the night.
Thanks again to everyone involved.
Best,
Marc