Continuing in the Cornas vein...

drssouth

Stephen South
With Beef Paprikash

1995 Paul Jaboulet An Cornas, Domaine de Saint-Pierre, alc 13%, $35: Decanted for 30 minutes...very mineral driven nose (? too much)...Iron, hint of iodine...this follows through on the palate with significant minerality (again ferrous mostly) and dried fruit ..very dry on the finish..seems to be past peak and while still providing enjoyment, not the complexity or interest that I search for in semi-aged Cornas

(from the back label: "maine de Saint-Pierre is an old vineyard of 9 acres on a steep granite based slope producing a mere 500 cases each harvest" ..."will mature in the bottle for 10 years or more")
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by drssouth:
Continuing in the Cornas vein...very mineral driven nose (? too much)

I guess by 'mineral' you mean that all the fruit was gone?

A strong smell of iron and very little fruit left..yes..
Typically some of this impression of iron is quite good...
 
The 1962 was an entirely different story. As at Cte-Rtie, Jaboulet had really good sources back then. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Jaboulet by and large lost those sources as they bottled for themselves.

The Domaine de Saint-Pierre is much higher up than the main body of Cornas vineyards and directly south-facing (as opposed to east or southeast for most of the best Cornas vineyards). It was by itself for a long time, but recently there has been a lot more planting there. It is possible that global warming will actually favor the Domaine de Saint-Pierre, but for the moment, I've not been overwhelmed by the wines Jaboulet has made from there. Especially at the price Jaboulet has charged.
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by drssouth:
Continuing in the Cornas vein...very mineral driven nose (? too much)

I guess by 'mineral' you mean that all the fruit was gone?

No he means Jaboulet is bullshit.

Fair enough in my book.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
Weird. The '62 was good recently. Of course, I'm sure it's harder for them to get the best grapes more recently.

Really, but what exactly was it?

I'm not a believer in obscure wines older than me.
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
The 1962 was an entirely different story. As at Cte-Rtie, Jaboulet had really good sources back then. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Jaboulet by and large lost those sources as they bottled for themselves.

The Domaine de Saint-Pierre is much higher up than the main body of Cornas vineyards and directly south-facing (as opposed to east or southeast for most of the best Cornas vineyards). It was by itself for a long time, but recently there has been a lot more planting there. It is possible that global warming will actually favor the Domaine de Saint-Pierre, but for the moment, I've not been overwhelmed by the wines Jaboulet has made from there. Especially at the price Jaboulet has charged.

I mean, in Cornas, what could the sources be?

Half the AOC (actually more) was fallow...

And you know that better than me.
 
originally posted by VLM:
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
The 1962 was an entirely different story. As at Cte-Rtie, Jaboulet had really good sources back then. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Jaboulet by and large lost those sources as they bottled for themselves.

The Domaine de Saint-Pierre is much higher up than the main body of Cornas vineyards and directly south-facing (as opposed to east or southeast for most of the best Cornas vineyards). It was by itself for a long time, but recently there has been a lot more planting there. It is possible that global warming will actually favor the Domaine de Saint-Pierre, but for the moment, I've not been overwhelmed by the wines Jaboulet has made from there. Especially at the price Jaboulet has charged.

I mean, in Cornas, what could the sources be?

Half the AOC (actually more) was fallow...

And you know that better than me.
What could the sources be??? I'm not sure if Clape was already bottling then, but if he was, he was the only producer bottling his own wine. Everyone else in Cornas was selling to negociants -- in the Rhne or in Burgundy. So Jaboulet had the pick of the entire appellation.
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
The 1962 was an entirely different story. As at Cte-Rtie, Jaboulet had really good sources back then. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Jaboulet by and large lost those sources as they bottled for themselves.

The Domaine de Saint-Pierre is much higher up than the main body of Cornas vineyards and directly south-facing (as opposed to east or southeast for most of the best Cornas vineyards). It was by itself for a long time, but recently there has been a lot more planting there. It is possible that global warming will actually favor the Domaine de Saint-Pierre, but for the moment, I've not been overwhelmed by the wines Jaboulet has made from there. Especially at the price Jaboulet has charged.

A 1953 Jaboulet Cote-Rotie was amazing last year...too bad most of what they make now is so average or worse
 
originally posted by drssouth:
Continuing in the Cornas vein...With Beef Paprikash

1995 Paul Jaboulet An Cornas, Domaine de Saint-Pierre, alc 13%, $35: Decanted for 30 minutes...very mineral driven nose (? too much)...Iron, hint of iodine...this follows through on the palate with significant minerality (again ferrous mostly) and dried fruit ..very dry on the finish..seems to be past peak and while still providing enjoyment, not the complexity or interest that I search for in semi-aged Cornas

(from the back label: "maine de Saint-Pierre is an old vineyard of 9 acres on a steep granite based slope producing a mere 500 cases each harvest" ..."will mature in the bottle for 10 years or more")

95 is not that old for Cornas. Sounds like a combination of not enough fruit density (yields? ripening?) and too much extraction. Was this wine austere when young?
 
originally posted by Christian Miller (CMM):
95 is not that old for Cornas. Sounds like a combination of not enough fruit density (yields? ripening?) and too much extraction. Was this wine austere when young?

I disagree. 1995s are entering their prime drinking window, IMO. They'll be there for a while, but are in a good place now.

The problem with this wine is it is Jaboulet.
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
What could the sources be??? I'm not sure if Clape was already bottling then, but if he was, he was the only producer bottling his own wine. Everyone else in Cornas was selling to negociants -- in the Rhne or in Burgundy. So Jaboulet had the pick of the entire appellation.

Sure, I understand. In the 60s were the best hillsides planted?

I haven't had too many of these old Jaboulet wines, but what I've had hasn't bowled me over like some folks.

If you say they had top-notch fruit in 1962, then I'll take your word for it, but it does strike me as one of those conventional wisdom things that may or may not be the case.
 
originally posted by VLM:
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
What could the sources be??? I'm not sure if Clape was already bottling then, but if he was, he was the only producer bottling his own wine. Everyone else in Cornas was selling to negociants -- in the Rhne or in Burgundy. So Jaboulet had the pick of the entire appellation.

Sure, I understand. In the 60s were the best hillsides planted?
What was planted was really good. There were other sites, dating from pre-phylloxera and from before the freeze of 1938, that were good but that were too difficult to work at the time, given what people at the time paid for Cornas, and that were abandoned. I remember seeing a lot of these abandoned terraces when I would visit in the 1980s and discussing them with Auguste Clape.

The new plantings have been a combination of good, poor, and unknown sites. By unknown, I mean sites (many of which are near the Domaine de Saint-Pierre) where as far as one knows, vines have never been planted, so it is not known what to expect from them. The story in Cornas for the future is going to be knowing who has vines where.
 
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