Rhône Valley

Well, this surprised and delighted. I’d heard several poor reviews of La Chapelles between about 1995 and 2005. However, although this was missing something …

I think this was made still in the low period for the Jaboulet house, because it certainly underwhelmed. A honeyed, but quite oxidative style, …

Good value for Hermitage, from a fairly decent vintage. We also had this at the barbeque, and it was pretty nice – certainly into …

This was a beauty. Mature, but with concentration to age gracefully for another 5 years, maybe? Quite dense garnet colour (medium, rather than light …

From a renowned year, but reports of La Chapelle being off-form between ’96 and 2002 had lowered my expectations far enough that I didn’t …

1997 Meysonniers: 7.6 (7) – slightly darker than the ’95 with Port-like notes and strawberry, coupled with caramel. Balanced, spicy flavour with some red …

A vertical tasting with friends – my first! Happened to end up with a range of these Crozes-Hermitages, starting with the 1995 (above label, …

Very disappointing. May have been a little “off” – it had thrown a lot of sediment and was a little bubbly initially. Slightly “baked” …

Slightly out of place, this one, given that the “New Black Wine” was consumed on 30th December 2002, and this one after my London …

My parents randomly had a bottle of the 1998 vintage of the Montirius Gigondas, so we did a “vertical” test against the 2000 (see …