We did a Northern Rhone event last night that was one of the most pleasurable in recent memory.
2004 Voge Fleur de Crussol St. Peray – lemony nose and colour, clean wine with a persistent finish. Have to remember this as a white Burgundy ringer.
1994 Guigal Cote Rotie La Mouline – dark wine with a nice rubbery nose that segued into a charred meat sort of thing with an uplifted character. Smooth, tasty and long, with soft tannins, an elegant wine but with a tarry undercurrent toward the end. Great showing that had the rest of us giving serious thought as to how we could politely sneak out or swap our bottles fo something else.
2000 Guigal Chateau d’Ampuis Cote Rotie – this had something that was missing from the Mouline, a notable floral element to the nose , as well as notes of vitamin tablets, cassis and a bit of bacon. tasy, with a sweet entry, harmonious, and fresh near the end. Later showed hints of black pepper developing.
1991 Chapoutier Hermitage La Sizeranne – good fruit in this nose, with hints of eucalyptus and menthol as well as dark fruit and anise. Medium bodied and balanced, the tannins now very soft. Nice point for drinking this now.
1997 Chave Hermitage – another of my favourite pproducers. A nice mature nose of slightly dusty fruit, bandaid and black olives, sweet entry, good acidity and long slow finish. Lovely showing and years to go.
1999 Chave Hermitage – sweet slightly bretty nose. Oddly, it started out sweet in the mouth, but when we went back to it later it had lost that and was dry throughout. Very nice length with tarry notes and tons of black fruit. Needs time.
2004 Niepoort Charme – a wine made mostly from Tinto Roriz and injected here as a blind ringer. Sweet toffee nose and sweet and slightly hot and lingering on palate. Checking this wine out later and finding that Dirk fancies it a Burgundy ringer really surprised me.
1999 Dom. Remizieres Hermitage Cuvee Emilie – slight hint of spearmint in the nose, plus floral and even citrus notes. Dark young wine with an interesting hit of cocoa right near the end and good acidity.
1996 Clape Cornas – I was surprised that no one else had hauled out any Cornas and this one showed quite differently in the nose than everything that had come before. Dusty fruit with hints of clove and cassis, smooth entry, a bit of spice in the mouth, the tannins under control, and a nice lengthy finish. No rush but drank very well now. First bottle out of my case – guess it is time to start opening a bottle every once in awhile.
1999 Torbreck The Factor – aha – a ringer. But it couldn’t fool anyone with that nose despite French oak. Sweet blackberry liqueur was a sure giveaway, but on palate, it was dry and powerful, a great cheese wine, which was why I had been saved for last.
Wonderful tasting with not a wine that wasn’t in perfect shape, showing well.