Classical Gasse

Z

Zachary Ross

Zachary Ross
Here's a blast from the past. I vaguely remembered having read about Lafoy-Gasse on this bored (and the Albanianized former bored), which gave me the crazy idea of bidding on a four-bottle lot of the 1994 Côte-Rôtie when it appeared at auction recently. The first bottle was not much to write about, but this second bottle is aces:

1994 Marie-Claude Lafoy et Vincent Gasse Côte-Rôtie
This did that old-wine trick of pouring out rather brown but freshening toward red as it sat in the glass. Really good nose, lifted, very tart red fruits, citrus, smoky coffee, savory airs of charcuterie, soy sauce, earthy radishes. Light-bodied, plenty of acid. On the attack the fruit is largely dried up, but the wine is broad across the palate with receding dried red fruits, old leather, smoky black tea, a brewed character overall; umami bomb. Pungent! I am really pleased with this showing and it totally validates the buy.

Anyone else have old bottles of these wines buried in their cellars?
 
Blast from the past indeed! No more of these in my possession, but remember some deliciously pungent bottles in the past.
 
yeah, that's the stuff. Bought a bunch of the 1999 at the Marche, I loved it, and seemed to be the only one buying it, the lady working the booth seemed so bored and sad and kept looking across the aisle to the Voge booth and to the right to Gangloff - both mobbed. Personally, one was warranted, the other not so much. But the Gasse-Lafoy wine was anything but bored and sad. Looking forward to checking in on them in 10 more years.
 
originally posted by mlawton:
yeah, that's the stuff. Bought a bunch of the 1999 at the Marche, I loved it, and seemed to be the only one buying it, the lady working the booth seemed so bored and sad and kept looking across the aisle to the Voge booth and to the right to Gangloff - both mobbed. Personally, one was warranted, the other not so much. But the Gasse-Lafoy wine was anything but bored and sad. Looking forward to checking in on them in 10 more years.
Click to expand...
Patience of Jobe.
 
originally posted by Florida Jim:
originally posted by mlawton:
yeah, that's the stuff. Bought a bunch of the 1999 at the Marche, I loved it, and seemed to be the only one buying it, the lady working the booth seemed so bored and sad and kept looking across the aisle to the Voge booth and to the right to Gangloff - both mobbed. Personally, one was warranted, the other not so much. But the Gasse-Lafoy wine was anything but bored and sad. Looking forward to checking in on them in 10 more years.
Click to expand...
Patience of Jobe.
Click to expand...

Is this a misspelling or is there another patient guy out there I don't know about?
 
Jobe's patience rewarded.

Drank a 1991 Marie-Claude Lafoy et Vincent Gasse Côte-Rôtie last night among a riotous lineup of amazing wines, and it strutted its stuff. So much more powerful and vigorous than the 1994 cited above - of course 1991 was an epic vintage for Côte-Rôtie, so that tracks. Fantastic wine that needed some air to unfurl. It must have been a beast in its youth as the entire interior of the bottle was stained dark red.

Those 1999s are going to be special.

Btw, it looks like Stéphane Othéguy declared bankruptcy in the late 2010s, and three of the vineyards he rented (the ones Gasse also rented before him) were sold to Guillaume Clusel in 2020.
 
Yes, I've been slowly drinking them, last one was in a group tasting of Cote Rotie and Cornas from 1999 in fall 2024. Jamet Cote Brune, Clape, Reynard and Chaillots, Juge C and SC and Voge VF among others. The Lafoy-Gasse was certainly not out of place. The outlier was the Clape actually. Jean-Marie told us that the 1999 was the best wine he had ever made, and it is evolving at a snail's pace. Epic. We also had a 1988 Verset that was A.MAZ.ING

I still have some wines from Otheguy too, I'll need to try one soon.
 
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