Northern Rhone TNs (May 2025)

originally posted by Claude Kolm:
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
By that time, of course, the 2004 would have already been harvested and fermented, so that was still in the old style.
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From your lips to god's ears, since the only bottle I've been saving for a special occasion is a 2004.

Thanks for elucidating.
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Again, there is the possibility of different bottlings. Chave at one time was well-known for various bottlings of different quality, and see Kermit Lynch's Adventures on the Wine Route for his description of mixing his own cuvée with Gérard Chave. As I said, by the late 1990s, officially, there was only one bottling for all, although I have reason to think that might not have been true.

When I began visiting in the Rhône in the 1980s, and at least up through the 1990s, some producers would only bottle "sur commande", that is, when an order came in, they filled enough bottles to respond to the order and left the remaining bottles in the barrel. As a result, I sometimes saw wines two and three years old still in barrel. Even where this practice was not followed, often the wines would be bottled in two or more batches at different times (typically, once in spring, once just before the harvest). Lot numbers can help sort this out, but American importers often use labels that do not show lot numbers (or occasionally leftover labels that show incorrect lot numbers) because lot numbers are not required for U.S. import and EU law does not require them for export to the US.
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My 2004 was bought here in Europe about six or seven years ago and doesn't have an importer label. The front label says No. 17323 and the back label has a bar code with a number above Domaine JL Chave. Has no lot number. That's a lotta bottles, hard to imagine there isn't some variation.
 
J-M Clape told us on a visit in 2001 or 2002 that the 1999 was the best wine he had ever made, while he blinded us on the 1991 which was outstanding.

We also had a 1999 in a 1999 horizontal in early 2024 (along with 1999 Allemand Chaillots and Reynard, Juge C and SC, Gasse-Lafoy, Jamet Cote Brune and a couple of others I can't recall). The Clape was by far the youngest and least evolved wine and the only one that I thought was going to get better with more time.

Chave lost my interest around 1997 and the 2003 was horrifying. But most 2003 I tried from anywhere in France or Germany was horrifying. Heat damaged wine, pre-bottling.
 
originally posted by mlawton:
J-M Clape told us on a visit in 2001 or 2002 that the 1999 was the best wine he had ever made
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Many producers in the Northern Rhône at that time were calling it an historic vintage. While there are some very good wines, so far the wines in my experience have not proved to be head and shoulders above other vintages.
 
While some 2003 Côte-Rôties opened in the last couple of years have been excellent.

Finished a bottle of Faury CR last night; lovely, and only 13% on the label.
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
only 13% on the label.
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A popular misconception about 2003 wines from Europe is that because it was so hot, alcohols must be correspondingly high. In fact, although there are some very high alcohol wines, the heat and drought were so severe than in many cases, the vines shut down and so alcohols stayed in the normal range.
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
originally posted by mlawton:
J-M Clape told us on a visit in 2001 or 2002 that the 1999 was the best wine he had ever made
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Many producers in the Northern Rhône at that time were calling it an historic vintage. While there are some very good wines, so far the wines in my experience have not proved to be head and shoulders above other vintages.
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I agree. I prefer 1998 to 1999 in general. A recent large Northern Rhone dinner had the 98 Gallet, 98 Barge Cote Brune, and 98 Jamet Cote Brune as showstoppers.
 
originally posted by Zachary Ross:
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
originally posted by mlawton:
J-M Clape told us on a visit in 2001 or 2002 that the 1999 was the best wine he had ever made
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Many producers in the Northern Rhône at that time were calling it an historic vintage. While there are some very good wines, so far the wines in my experience have not proved to be head and shoulders above other vintages.
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I agree. I prefer 1998 to 1999 in general. A recent large Northern Rhone dinner had the 98 Gallet, 98 Barge Cote Brune, and 98 Jamet Cote Brune as showstoppers.
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I've always loved 1998 -- a very classic vintage. Possibly for 1999, producers were still in the looking-at-ripeness-above-all mode, a point of view that global warming has forced them to abandon.

Re Gallet, I visited there in the late 1990s or early 2000s, and that was an estate that was still bottling only according to orders, still keeping the rest in barrel; so there can be very great variation from that estate, at least at that time.
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
only 13% on the label.
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A popular misconception about 2003 wines from Europe is that because it was so hot, alcohols must be correspondingly high. In fact, although there are some very high alcohol wines, the heat and drought were so severe than in many cases, the vines shut down and so alcohols stayed in the normal range.
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Gtk, thanks.

When vines shut down, is the only consequence lower alcohol, or does that also affect the grapes qualitatively? Because if Faury's vines shut down. that certainly didn't affect the deliciousness of the wine.
 
I've found some mythology around both '02s and '03s in the Rhone (esp north)...'03s aren't necessarily typical, but they can be good (sometimes pit-ty).

I was able to buy a case of '02 Clape at release for $10/bottle (yes! - they thought it was a disaster). Totally delicious - tasted like dirt, but really really good dirt.
 
this discussion inspired me to take one for the team

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I visited Gallet sometime in the late 1990s; it was a throwback experience, and clearly they were still doing bottling "sur commande." Very nice people and the wines could be excellent.
 
originally posted by Yule Kim:
originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:
originally posted by Yule Kim:
How was the '99 Gallet?
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other than the Portuguese curse?
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Ouch, that bad?
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just mild enough to tell this might be special, and on the small/black berry & elegant side of things, from a good bottle.
looking forward to the next one, probably in the fall
 
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