Levet fans - please help me understand

[Shan_A]

Another (brilliant) resource:

TN: Fu's blind tasting around the country with a vertical of Levet with...

[Chris_V]

Chris, I’m assuming you already know this but they’re repped here by Burgundy-Direct. Prices are a bit higher than the US, but close enough that I’ve bought the last few vintages.

[C_Mc_Cart]

Thanks Chris. Yes, Daniel’s a friend.

[AndyK]

I haven’t had the 06, but I had 04, 05, 07, 08, 09, and 11 in the past 1-2 years.

I thought the 04 and 08 in particular were drinking nicely. I also immensely enjoyed the 05, although I agree it’s young. I think the 07 and 09 needed more time at this point.

[Ramon_C]

One of our participants brought a 1998 Levet during one of our local Northern Rhone wine dinners last year.
That wine left a very positive lasting impression on me.

[Zachary_Ross]

'04 Levet is grand! Drinking well, as are most '04s from the Northern Rhone.

[Ramon_C]

'04 Levet is grand! Drinking well, as are most '04s from the Northern Rhone.

We didn’t have '04 Jamet C-R during that dinner. Any thoughts if it is drinking well?

[Charlie_Carnes]

Another (brilliant) resource:
TN: Fu's blind tasting around the country with a vertical of Levet with French, Henriquez, Alfert, Carnes , Kane - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers

I got a great education for sure.

[Yao_C]

'04 Levet is grand! Drinking well, as are most '04s from the Northern Rhone.

We didn’t have '04 Jamet C-R during that dinner. Any thoughts if it is drinking well?

I had a bottle in April (recent release from the domaine, with the new label). Wide open and highly enjoyable

[Ramon_C]

'04 Levet is grand! Drinking well, as are most '04s from the Northern Rhone.

We didn’t have '04 Jamet C-R during that dinner. Any thoughts if it is drinking well?

I had a bottle in April (recent release from the domaine, with the new label). Wide open and highly enjoyable

Thanks. Good to know that it’s in line with the 2004s that we sampled. Plus, one thing with Jamet is that they usually have a very long good drinking plateau.

[MikeL238]

In terms of Cote Rotie, most of my own cellar and what I have shared among friends is mostly Jamet & Jasmin. Deep experience with other Cote Rotie producers is less broad.

I know Levet is well regarded by several contributors here. Would anyone mind expanding on the various cuvees?

I tried to track info down on the web & I searched here but there’s very little info about the entire line-up. Even Levet’s own website (French only) has just 3 of the cuvees listed.
Would appreciate learning about both stylistic & actual physical (location, vine age, vinification, etc) differences are between the base C.R., Amethyste, Brune et Blonde, La Chavroche, La Peroline, Maestra & Les Journaries?

Chavaroche=Peroline (American vs. European naming) The Chavaroche a name of a lie dit next to the Cote Brune lieu-dit, though my understanding there’s quite a bit of Mollard in this as well.
Journaries=Maestria (American vs. European naming) Comes mostly (though not entirely) from Landonne, is my understanding
Cote Rotie (base)=Amethyste
I’m not aware of the Cote Brune bottling

The Chavaroche is generally more backwards with more structure, the Journaries is typically a bit more aromatic and open, though I would suggest in both cases both require quite a bit of cellaring. When opened young, they often don’t even resemble northern Rhone until day 2. Some older examples of Chavaroche I’ve had (98 and 04, recently) have been wonderful. There is a fair amount of variability to the wines - they’re pretty old school. Some people find that they can occasionally “smell like old socks” or “roadkill” (you know who you are!), though I suppose I either don’t find that or enjoy it!

I don’t have much experience with the base Cote Rotie, as given such little price disparity with the individual cuvees, I simply don’t buy it.

Hard to add anything more than this most excellent post.

If you like the Levet style, as Greg notes, skip the Amethyste. It’s really nice, but the bump up to the better two wines is minor, so go all in. While the La Chav is generally considered the flagship, these are two different wines, both of high merit. I think Les Journaries is actually better in some years, 2013 for example. Both wines need a lot of time. If you are not patient, I would not buy these wines.

Robert, is Les Journaries as wild and feral as La Chav or more tamed? Absolutely loved La Chavs I tried, but haven’t had Les Journaries yet so was curious.

[Greg_K]

Chavaroche=Peroline (American vs. European naming) The Chavaroche a name of a lie dit next to the Cote Brune lieu-dit, though my understanding there’s quite a bit of Mollard in this as well.
Journaries=Maestria (American vs. European naming) Comes mostly (though not entirely) from Landonne, is my understanding
Cote Rotie (base)=Amethyste
I’m not aware of the Cote Brune bottling

The Chavaroche is generally more backwards with more structure, the Journaries is typically a bit more aromatic and open, though I would suggest in both cases both require quite a bit of cellaring. When opened young, they often don’t even resemble northern Rhone until day 2. Some older examples of Chavaroche I’ve had (98 and 04, recently) have been wonderful. There is a fair amount of variability to the wines - they’re pretty old school. Some people find that they can occasionally “smell like old socks” or “roadkill” (you know who you are!), though I suppose I either don’t find that or enjoy it!

I don’t have much experience with the base Cote Rotie, as given such little price disparity with the individual cuvees, I simply don’t buy it.

Hard to add anything more than this most excellent post.

If you like the Levet style, as Greg notes, skip the Amethyste. It’s really nice, but the bump up to the better two wines is minor, so go all in. While the La Chav is generally considered the flagship, these are two different wines, both of high merit. I think Les Journaries is actually better in some years, 2013 for example. Both wines need a lot of time. If you are not patient, I would not buy these wines.

Robert, is Les Journaries as wild and feral as La Chav or more tamed? Absolutely loved La Chavs I tried, but haven’t had Les Journaries yet so was curious.

The Journaries tends to be less muscular, though it’s still a big wine.

[Eric_LeVine]

In terms of Cote Rotie, most of my own cellar and what I have shared among friends is mostly Jamet & Jasmin. Deep experience with other Cote Rotie producers is less broad.

I know Levet is well regarded by several contributors here. Would anyone mind expanding on the various cuvees?

I tried to track info down on the web & I searched here but there’s very little info about the entire line-up. Even Levet’s own website (French only) has just 3 of the cuvees listed.
Would appreciate learning about both stylistic & actual physical (location, vine age, vinification, etc) differences are between the base C.R., Amethyste, Brune et Blonde, La Chavroche, La Peroline, Maestra & Les Journaries?

Chavaroche=Peroline (American vs. European naming) The Chavaroche a name of a lie dit next to the Cote Brune lieu-dit, though my understanding there’s quite a bit of Mollard in this as well.
Journaries=Maestria (American vs. European naming) Comes mostly (though not entirely) from Landonne, is my understanding
Cote Rotie (base)=Amethyste
I’m not aware of the Cote Brune bottling

The Chavaroche is generally more backwards with more structure, the Journaries is typically a bit more aromatic and open, though I would suggest in both cases both require quite a bit of cellaring. When opened young, they often don’t even resemble northern Rhone until day 2. Some older examples of Chavaroche I’ve had (98 and 04, recently) have been wonderful. There is a fair amount of variability to the wines - they’re pretty old school. Some people find that they can occasionally “smell like old socks” or “roadkill” (you know who you are!), though I suppose I either don’t find that or enjoy it!

I don’t have much experience with the base Cote Rotie, as given such little price disparity with the individual cuvees, I simply don’t buy it.

Thank you for this. We just had a similar request/complaint from a user in Denmark, so we decided to combine the entries as appropriate on CellarTracker. For the moment, we have combined these under the US names with the European names as hidden search terms. If there are complaints or duplicates spring up we will look at the US / Europe name which is klunky but tends to put these situations to bed. I really wish wineries would have the same name for the same grape juice around the world…

[MikeL238]

Hard to add anything more than this most excellent post.

If you like the Levet style, as Greg notes, skip the Amethyste. It’s really nice, but the bump up to the better two wines is minor, so go all in. While the La Chav is generally considered the flagship, these are two different wines, both of high merit. I think Les Journaries is actually better in some years, 2013 for example. Both wines need a lot of time. If you are not patient, I would not buy these wines.

Robert, is Les Journaries as wild and feral as La Chav or more tamed? Absolutely loved La Chavs I tried, but haven’t had Les Journaries yet so was curious.

The Journaries tends to be less muscular, though it’s still a big wine.

Thanks Greg. Rule of 15 for Les Journaries as well then?

[Greg_K]

In terms of Cote Rotie, most of my own cellar and what I have shared among friends is mostly Jamet & Jasmin. Deep experience with other Cote Rotie producers is less broad.

I know Levet is well regarded by several contributors here. Would anyone mind expanding on the various cuvees?

I tried to track info down on the web & I searched here but there’s very little info about the entire line-up. Even Levet’s own website (French only) has just 3 of the cuvees listed.
Would appreciate learning about both stylistic & actual physical (location, vine age, vinification, etc) differences are between the base C.R., Amethyste, Brune et Blonde, La Chavroche, La Peroline, Maestra & Les Journaries?

Chavaroche=Peroline (American vs. European naming) The Chavaroche a name of a lie dit next to the Cote Brune lieu-dit, though my understanding there’s quite a bit of Mollard in this as well.
Journaries=Maestria (American vs. European naming) Comes mostly (though not entirely) from Landonne, is my understanding
Cote Rotie (base)=Amethyste
I’m not aware of the Cote Brune bottling

The Chavaroche is generally more backwards with more structure, the Journaries is typically a bit more aromatic and open, though I would suggest in both cases both require quite a bit of cellaring. When opened young, they often don’t even resemble northern Rhone until day 2. Some older examples of Chavaroche I’ve had (98 and 04, recently) have been wonderful. There is a fair amount of variability to the wines - they’re pretty old school. Some people find that they can occasionally “smell like old socks” or “roadkill” (you know who you are!), though I suppose I either don’t find that or enjoy it!

I don’t have much experience with the base Cote Rotie, as given such little price disparity with the individual cuvees, I simply don’t buy it.

Thank you for this. We just had a similar request/complaint from a user in Denmark, so we decided to combine the entries as appropriate on CellarTracker. For the moment, we have combined these under the US names with the European names as hidden search terms. If there are complaints or duplicates spring up we will look at the US / Europe name which is klunky but tends to put these situations to bed. I really wish wineries would have the same name for the same grape juice around the world…

Happy to help! I’m a big fan of CellarTracker so nice to give back for a change (other than with my wallet, I mean) Thanks for all the work!

[Greg_K]

Robert, is Les Journaries as wild and feral as La Chav or more tamed? Absolutely loved La Chavs I tried, but haven’t had Les Journaries yet so was curious.

The Journaries tends to be less muscular, though it’s still a big wine.

Thanks Greg. Rule of 15 for Les Journaries as well then?

I’m generally a believer that most Rhones are best at 15 years, but if you have more than a few bottles, no harm in opening a Journaries earlier. The nice thing about Levet is that, at least for now, they remain reasonably priced.

[J_Rock]

Does anyone know if recent Levets are particularly feral? I have some in the cellar, but haven’t tasted any.

I have room for one more visit when I’m in N. Rhone and can’t decide (I think I’m between Levet or mixing it up with some benchmark Condrieu at Vernay).

[MikeL238]

I have heard that they have become less feral, perhaps from15ish vintage and on. Again can’t personally confirm but the '19 base cote rotie I had last year was not feral at all, which was disappointing.

[Brian_G_r_a_f_s_t_r_o_m]

Had a 2014 Maestria and 2020 Maestria last year; both clean as a whistle.

[Otto_Forsberg]

Agree with the wines being clean today. I have had only a small handful of younger Levets - not any of the older ones - and they’ve been completely clean.

They’ve also felt somewhat modern and polished, all showing somewhat noticeable new oak influence. Not much, ie. they’re not gloopy oak monsters (like some producers in the region), but to me, none of the wines I’ve tasted have felt particularly old school Northern Rhône Syrah. They’ve been good wines, but nothing that would blow my socks off.