TN: Verset Vertical (May 7, 2009)

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:

The '99 drank well -- someone comments on licorice, another on wildness -- but the '98 was better, showing that blend of red fruits, black olives, earth, and sticks that is so attractive in Cornas syrah. The Clape and Allemand '98s were silkier and less funky, but opinion was very divided.
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I have never really liked Clape post-1995. Allemand is always silkier and more refined, but manages to still be Cornas. It's quite the trick.

The '95 was the first "wow" wine for me, with real complexity on the palate, some real maturity, well-integrated acidity, and a taming of the funk. Still, the wine was criticized by some as leaving their mouths puckered with tannin.
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The way it has been showing for the past year or so, I'm tempted to say that the 1995 is the best vintage for Verset.

The '91 would have been a great thing if it hadn't been corked. (I couldn't detect it but several others called it. A bottle of 1997 Verset, brought for the event, was very obviously corked.)
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That stinks. The 1991 can be stellar.

The '90 was a big disappointment to me. It was too roasted and swivel-hipped to be a great wine.
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I've never liked the 1990. It is nowhere near the class of 1988 and 1991.

The '88, however, ended the vertical on a high note: This was another "wow" wine, with a happy blend of secondary and tertiary scents.
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The 1988 is a very good wine. In my opinion it is on the downslope. I'm more and more of the opinion that Cornas is not 40 year wine. I really like the way that 1994s and some 1995s are showing right now at age 14 or 15. That seems like the sweet spot. Don't get me wrong, the 1988 is a lovely wine, it just seems to be missing some little bit of savagery that I want from Cornas. It has matured out of that to a refined state.
 
I'm happy to take any unwanted 83, 85, 88, 89 or 98, 99, 01 or 04 Clape or Juge from the 80s off anyone's hands. I'm sure we'd find something to trade.

Yes, I am channeling the famous 1993 Burgundy (Rovani) offer. No, I'm not kidding with the trade offer. And yes, I unfortunately expect no takers.
 
Slaton, you have too much hair on your head. Sorry. In Theresa's case, that's something that can't be helped.

I had a bottle of '88 about a year and a half ago and I wish I had cellared it longer. It wasn't nearly ready.

Best Cornas I've had is the Kermit Lynch cuvee of '83 Clape that Claude Kolm brought to dinner a number of years ago. Coincidentally, Rob Adler brought the '88 Clape which was also the Kermit cuvee (100% old vine from Reynard). Claude said those were the only 2 vintages that this was done for Kermit.
 
originally posted by Larry Stein:
Slaton, you have too much hair on your head. Sorry. In Theresa's case, that's something that can't be helped.

I had a bottle of '88 about a year and a half ago and I wish I had cellared it longer. It wasn't nearly ready.

Best Cornas I've had is the Kermit Lynch cuvee of '83 Clape that Claude Kolm brought to dinner a number of years ago. Coincidentally, Rob Adler brought the '88 Clape which was also the Kermit cuvee (100% old vine from Reynard). Claude said those were the only 2 vintages that this was done for Kermit.
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I think these 1988s have been ready for a few years. I guess I am in the minority. I think really old Cornas starts to taste like old syrah, generally. I'm not saying that for every bottle, but at this point it seems like I am in the minority in where I like many wines to be before I get into them.

The 1988 Clape Kermit bottling is a joy. I've finished all of mine, but am not sorry I did.
 
originally posted by mlawton:
It's OK, don't worry too much. There's no right or wrong, only opinions.
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See, I really do think there is a right answer. We just need enough data and have to think really hard about the model. It's iterative, but I think as a group we can get there.

With a reasonable variance, that is.
 
FWIW, there was almost a glass's worth of leftovers in the '88 at the end of the night, but not a drop of '90 remaining...

Tasting through the lineup again the next day was pretty fun. Only one or two of the wines had oxidized.
 
originally posted by mlawton:
It's OK, don't worry too much. There's no right or wrong, only opinions.
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Ok, NOW you are REALLY trying to get vlm's goat. Do you want to see his head explode?
 
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