Rhone Tasting

Every so often, a group of us get together and do a tasting of a particular region, vintage, etc. Last night was Wines of the Rhone Valley.... and what a tasting it was. We started out with aperitifs of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (no, not Rhone... and there were quite a few that were not Rhone at the end) which was good, if not overly exciting. The 1983 Bischofliches Konvikt Piesporter Goldtropchen Riesling Spatlese was pretty... certainly towards the end of its life, the wine was pure petrol and dried apricots. The wine has a long, slately oil finish. Nice... The 1998 M. Chapoutier Hermitage Le Meal Blanc was the first of the Rhone wines and wow... what a monster. Honeysuckle, Acacia Blossom, apricots, lime peel, crushed stone, and what a long, powerful finish. The wine is still a baby but is already one of the great White Wines and was my wine of the night. The 2005 Chateau La Nerthe Chateauneuf-du-Pape Blanc was stony, still ripe and rich and round. Honeysuckle, orange blossom, tangerine rind, really nice stuff. Tons of minerals. Needs time. The 2005 Chateau d'Acqueria Tavel was a nice transition sitting by the pool... spicy with lovely "grenache" hallmarks of ripe raspeberry and meatiness. Nice. The 2003 Guigal Gigondas was powerful, again, tons of Grenache leaving it earthy and spicy, but ripe and rich. My 1990 Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape Rouge was completely (and very nastily) corked. Oh well. The 2003 Chateau La Nerthe "Cuvees des Cadets" Chateauneuf-du-Pape was a monster... has to be 16% abv, but didn't show it... bright, ripe Grenache - a powerhouse. Doesn't need too much time as it was beautiful right now. I would imagine it would go on for a quite a while though. On to the north! The 2001 Guigal Cote-Rotie "Brune et Blonde" was nice - meaty, olivey, smokey and lots of ripe black plum. Long, powerful finish. The 1999 Guigal Cote-Rotie "Chateau d'Ampuis" is a monstrous bottle of wine that, even decanted for 4 hours, was still a baby. Absolutely mind-blowing power with intense, clean black fruits, black pepper and loads of black olive. This is what Syrah is all about. An awesome bottle that I'd love to try again in 10 years. The 1999 Delas Cote-Rotie "La Landonne" was beautiful - just a bit more austere and less put together than the Chateau d'Ampuis - but, I think in time, the better bottle of wine. The layers went on and on forever. A lot more stony minerality to this wine than in the Ampuis, and it created a more rustic, classic Cote-Rotie type nose. Well, that was it for the Rhones... so we went on to the 1997 Michel Chiarello Barolo "Cannubi" which was tannic, powerful, and floral rose petals galore... very nice wine. The 2003 Almaviva shocked us back to the new world with its eucalyptus and deep black plum fruit. Powerful, a baby... a great wine and a great night of wine.