Seven people, eighteen bottles

[jparrott]

1992 Chave Hermitage Blanc

Opened over the course of the evening to classic honeycomb, wax, mature apple flavors. Long, with crunchy mineral and wax accents on the finish.

2001 Guigal Condrieu

Not so great until about 3 hours of air, when the oak got hemmed in...not as typical as the Villard

2000 Villard Condrieu Grand Vallon

Some oak, but pure flowers, pear and spice, with sufficient acidity.

1999 Nigl Riesling Kremser Kremsleiten

Glorious. Firm, crunchy lime, apple and dark slate.

2001 Pepiere (Ollivier) Muscadet Sevre & Maine "Clos des Briords"

So expressive. Apple, lemon, chalk, all in spades.

2000 "Plan de Pegau" VdT

Corked.

1997 Chateau de St. Cosme Gigondas Cuvee Classique

A little green, says Gus, but I think just well balanced, with firm tannin and restrained fruit. The first of a pattern of well-balanced,

far-too-young wines.

1999 Brunel Les Cailloux Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Really approachable, but also really complex. Earth, dark cherry, some loamy accents. Awfully nice and not at all froooty.

1999 Dom Pegau Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Beautiful. Perfect balance. Perfect earth. Perfect spice. Just enough froot. Dark cherry, some raspberry. Sweet, but so, so young.

2000 Dom Pegau Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Ack. Frooot. But also the firm, sweet-earthy Pegau signature. But I liked the less-ripe 1999 more, with its tension. Still, very balanced, though, more balanced than...

2000 Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Too much frooot. Too much fat. Some caramelly oak. May always be sweet. Still compelling, but not like the Pegaus.

1983 Paul Jaboulet Aine Hermitage La Chapelle

Absolutely at peak, with some sweet tannin providing dimension to the firm plum and spice and sweet earth and meat characteristics. The best bottle of this I've had, of the 4 I've had in the past 6 months.

1999 Burgaud Cote-Rotie

A strapping hulk. Unapproachable, but open with lots of flavors, but stern structure. Goo-goo-gaa-gaa.

1982 Talbot St.-Julien

Glorious. Perfect balance. Dark cherry, some plum, some spice, some cigar, nothing in excess. Decanted 5 hours and showing at absolute peak, given that decanting.

1986 Gruaud LaRose St.-Julien

Some Gruaud funk, but still strapping and young. Perfect balance.

1988 Cos d'Estournel St.-Estephe

A bit darker in profile, with even some blackberry poking through. Impeccable balance; a Cos that may never shut down. Pleasurable, but also with enough austerity to be food friendly.

Nectars

1997 Renou Bonnezeaux Zenith

Rich, thick, pretty complex. Far too good to have been made by the INAO weenie. Thirty years too young, almost impossible to comment at this time.

1997 Dr Parce Banyuls Rimage

Soft and approachable, but very complex spice accents, no overripeness and succulent acidity.

[Ron Johnson]

What a line-up. Wow. I envy you. Although I am surprised how well the Jaboulet showed in comparison to these others.

edit: No I am not, it was the 1983. Thought at first it was a recent vintage.

[vmilor]

Has anbody tried 83 Chapelle Jaboulet Hermitage with 83 Chave together? I did this in 98 and the former was the clear favorite. Happy to learn it is even better now.

[Vanessa]

These Parrotts have great genes you know

v

[Double 0]

Were these bottles drunk or was it a taste and spit? If it was the former God bless you. Was the order you listed the tasting order? I've found over the years that I drink the best first then go down ( my taste buds get wasted after a few bottles). One other question, was food served or was it about tasting only?

[jparrott]

Restaurant setting, plenty of food, not much spitting. However, we left a fair amount for the staff for letting us be loud and raucous. I was driving so I took small pours; those riding the Metro were a bit more generous. However, the tasting was long enough (4 hours) and had enough food that no one was particularly blotto at the end--a few of us adjourned for an extra pint at the Irish pub across the street....

Jake

[Winot]

1997 Chateau de St. Cosme Gigondas Cuvee Classique

Jake,

How long d'you reckon before this peaks? I have a case from which I've tried one bottle and I agree with your assessment, but don't know enough to know how long to leave it.

Thanks.

W.

[Steve Plotnicki]

I'm interested in your notes on the '83 La Chapelle. As many people know, RP once had this wine rated at 100 points. But I believe he demoted it to 90 based on excessive acidity. In spite of his recommendation, I went out and bought some. Way too acidic for me. Could take the chrome off of hubcaps with this stuff. So I sold it off. But if you are saying that excessive acidity is not a problem anymore, it could be one of the best buys on the market because RP's rating tanked the wine. But your note that it is at peak gives me some cause. La Chapelle is a historically slow ager with wines like '78 and '79 not being ready yet. Otherwise it sounds like a great tasting.

[jparrott]

Winot:

Don't be in any hurry. This Gig has excellent balance and fresh acidity. Probably 5-6 more years with no trouble. But it's in a happy place now :-).

Steve:

It's got acidity, sure. I like acidity. But no one at the table said it had too much acidity, and some of them liked froooty wines.

Some other bottles of this I've had recently have not shown as concentrated, and the owner of this bottle said that this one was the best of the stash he had (4 bought at the same time, I think), so BV may be a problem.

Jake

[edit to answer two questions at once]

Edited February 12, 2003 by jparrott (log)