It’s been a while since I last posted tasting notes, as I tend not to write many of them any more. But one wine I had this week-end was so significantly different from what I expected that I felt compelled to share this.
Friends came over for Easter and when I told them to pick a wine region they chose the Rhône valley. I knew some of them (the ones I rarely drink with) liked wines on the big, powerful, intense side, while others are somewhat in the middle and finally that left me and my love of typically high acid, high minerality wines. So I picked something for everybody…
We started with a 2003 Clos des Papes. I still have a few bottles of this wine and so far I had been quite disappointed by it. I couldn’t see the difference between this 100-pointer and the rest of the mess currently produced in the area. Previous experiences included a tongue-burning alcohol level, rather lean wine for the alcohol content and monolithic flavour profile on the omnipresent cherry aroma in the area. Yuck. But this time it was totally different. I served it blind and one guest placed it in Burgundy. Although the still high alcohol % should have been a clear sign that this wasn’t a northern wine, I could really see how the nose could be placed in Burgundy. I had no problem imagining the same nose on a powerful Côte de Beaune red (say, Pommard). This wine was really delicate and subtle, the palate was a bit of a letdown compared to the nose but the finish was extra long. All in all, a very pleasant surprise. I let it decant for a couple of hours and I think it helped.
Next one was a 2011 Saint-Joseph Ferme des 7 Lunes. Jean Delobre is a biodynamic farmer and natural wine maker in the northern Rhône. This wine was singing, although a bit less than the bottle I had over Christmas. It’s just everything I like about northern Rhône syrah: a bit of meat/bacon, powerful fruit, some flowers, a hint of licorice, searing acidity… it was the whole package. And none of the usual natural wine crap (for whatever reason after having tasted a ton of them I feel they all have the same nose, although I can’t describe it or put words on it I know I can recognize it blind–and I did at several occasions). This wine was popped and poured.
We finished with a 2009 Côte-Rôtie from Jamet. I made the mistake of decanting for 2-3 hours. The tannins and the oak developed in full force thanks to the air and overpowered this wine. The sip I had when I opened it was just much better. It’s worth trying now, but don’t make the mistake to decant it (or maybe decant it for 24 hours or so… ?)
Next day was more of the same. We had a 2007 Charbonnière Mourre des Perdrix is the posterchild of why I don’t drink Châteauneuf any longer. Others loved it, though, and I can appreciate why they did, but for me it’s way over the top. Drinking this wine tires me and I get little pleasure in doing so. Silver lining is that I can please my friends with it.
Next and last was a 2012 Brézeme Grand Chêne from Domaine des Lombards. Brézème is a small “closest thing to an appellation but not quite”, and the southernmost vineyard in the northern Rhône (therefore, syrah). I think they got the right to write “Côtes du Rhône Brézème” on the bottles but I’m not even sure. For years it was just a tolerance from the INAO, because this appellation is actually 200+ years old. As many of the vineyards in the northern Rhône, it almost disappeared in the 80s… except this one took a lot longer to recover (not having a proper appellation probably didn’t help). Domaine des Lombards is the main producer in the area and was recently rejuvenated by a young and ambitious couple (Julien Montagnon and Emmanuelle Horand). With the help of investors they have rebooted the domaine, built a new winery and started replanting old terraces that had succumbed to weeds and decades of neglect. The wine itself is a bit on the young side, but with good potential. I’ll keep it for a few more years before I revisit it. Their basic cuvée (IGP) called “La Côte” (well, this is going to change as the legislator deemed the name too close to (and too evocative of, apparently) nearby Côte-Rôtie) is a winner in my book. Just juicy, wild syrah the way I like it. The domaine is usually associated with the natural wine crowd that is starting to become more and more prevalent in France, but like Delobre they produce clean wines that set them a bit apart. Julien actually wrote an article called “Never call me natural again” on his blog after a disappointing tour of Parisian retailers specializing in natural wines who felt the wine didn’t “smell natural enough” (read: didn’t stink enough and didn’t have enough flaws). We still laugh about it ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Anyway, their wines are well worth a try.