Helen’s blog

No sooner had I posted the last blog than the I received an email from Sainsbury’s to say that the Chapoutier’s Crozes-Hermitage Les Meysonniers 2009 (see my note below) is to be reduced in their top 170 stores to £12.99 from 27 July to 23 August – a reduction of £2/bottle. OK, it’s not quite a Tesco half-price offer, but it’s nice to have a bit off a wine that’s really worth buying. If you can afford it, grab six and forget about them for a few years. Do make sure it’s the 2009 …

Here are the rest of my tasting notes from my recent visit to Chapoutier’s cellar at Tain l’Hermitage. Saint Joseph has long been one of Chapoutier’s most successful appellations, so that’s where we began:

Saint Joseph, Deschants 2009 is very deep and purply, a big, juicy young red with classic black cherry fruit, but lot of structure. It has the balance to age and develop well over the next few years.

Bila-Haut, Côtes du Roussillon Villages 2008 ‘Occultum Lapidem’, a blend of equal parts Syrah, Grenache with 10% old Carignan grown on gneiss, schist, and some Kimmeridgian limestone. It is aged mostly in oak oak. A dark ruby, it has a lovely Christmas cake, dried fruits nose, with coffee and chocolate and is then soft, rich, savoury and decidedly mineral in the mouth.

Crozes Hermitages, les Meysonniers 2009, from Chapoutier’s own biodynamically-managed vineyards is very deeply coloured with an intense black cherry ripeness; a rich, powerful wine, but with great purity of fruit. It lacks a little complexity at the moment, but that may come. It’s very good.

Domaine Tournon (so named because it’s ‘across the water’) is the jokey name for Chapoutier’s Australian venture. The 2009 Shiraz from Shay’s Flat Vineyard, Pyrenees, Victoria, from red podzolic soils over iron-rich schist and quartz. It’s big, chewy, soft and ripe, with huge ripe tannins. The fruit has something of a Rhône-like black cherry character, but with a huge irony concentration. I would love to try it again in ten, or maybe twenty year’s time (if if still around and not completely ga-ga). I don’t find it a terribly forgiving mouthful right now – it sure ain’t a typical Aussie Shiraz.

Côte-Rôtie, Les Bécasses, 2007 brings me back to more familiar territory. A deep ruby, 100% Syrah (unusually) it’s perfumed, fine and spicily mineral, with a lovely purity of fruit, and rich, soft, yet finely-grained tannins. Clearly this shows that a dollop of Viognier isn’t strictly necessary to scent a decent Côte-Rôtie.

Hermitage La Sizeranne, 2007 is also deep and fine,  with good minerality and a lovely depth to its black,  herby intensely liquorice fruit, along with a slight hint of black olives.

Ermitage, Le Méal 2008 is as special as its reputation suggests. The bottle had been opened the previous day. Deep and ruby, it shows an exciting concentration of wild cherry fruit with  rose-like perfume and fine minerality. In the mouth it’s softly rich and ripe, almost seductive, but again elegant, perfumed, mineral and supported by fine-grained minerality. It’s evidence for me that the biggest vintages don’t always make the best wines.

Ermitage,  les Greffieux 2001, opened specially, was deep,but showed a little age. As it opened in the glass it showed a faboulous complexity of aromas and flavours – liquorice again, pickled walnuts (there’s something distinctly balsamic about it), iodine, coffee and very black fruits. The texture is as silky as one could wish for, and to seal it all there’s a fine, lingering minerality. In 2001 Michel Chapoutier used more new oak for this wine than he does now, but it was well-integrated and didn’t stand out.

The House of Chapoutier not only produces some of the finest wines from the Rhône, but also from an increasing number estates further afield. The quality across the range is impressively high.

Here are some notes from white wines tasted at the winery in tain l’Hermitage on 25 June. I’ll post notes on the whites tomorrow – after a day trying to catch up after a hectic few weeks travelling, I need to get ready for the Vine Visit summer dinner!

Alsace Riesling  Grand Cru Wiebelsberg 2009

Fine, ripe lemony fruit, with a hint of honey. Good intensity, fine acids and classic lingering minerality – a wine with potential to age beautifully and an extraordinarily impressive début.

Le Vignes de Bila-Haut, Côtes du Roussillon 2009 (Blanc)

From a property bought ten years ago a blend of Grenache Gris, Grenache Blanc and Maccabeu. It shows honeyed,very spicy, slightly peppery, peachy fruit and a lot of minerality. The acids are again fine and fresh. The finish is both salty-mineral and quite phenolic.

Saint-Péray, ‘ Les Tanneurs’ 2010.

A classic blend of Marsanne and a little Roussanne (apparently Marcel is no great fan of Roussanne). It shows a lovely intensity of ripe honeysuckle-scented fruit, with clean acidity and a fine mineral persistence. An outstanding effort this year.

Chateauneuf du Pape, 2009 ‘La Bernadine’

Pure Grenache Blanc. This has a remarkably deep colour,  an aroma or orange and apricot and a rich minerality and a hint of spicy oak. Despite its big, spicy texture, it’s also focused and fresh.

Condrieu, 2009 ‘Invitare’

Unoaked, fine and complex, with an intense pear skin aroma and a very spicy flavour. Rich, round and really quite soft.

Hermitage, 2007 ‘Chante Alouette’

Already quite an old gold (the Marsanne is pressed very slowly) showing notes of confit lime and lemon and fine minerality. Big, rich but with balanced acids and  typically lingering minerality.

Saint-Jospeh 2007 ‘Les Granits’

More pour Marsanne from this special single vineyard – a creamier more intense wine than Chante Alouette with orange and greengage fruit and wonderful softness and impressive minerality.

I have always been impressed by the consistency, right across the range, of Burgundy wines and Beaujolais from Louis Jadot. They are good, often very good, and though seldom the very best wines of their appellation are always fair and typical expressions of it and of their vintage. They are also easy to find in the UK – distributed in the major supermarkets and Majestic, as well as high-end independents.Their entry levels are benchmarks for Burgundy – excellently made and true to type.

My account of a visit to the cellars in Beaune in June is in today’s Journal

I tasted the following wines with Dominique Mounier, Jadot’s general manager.

Macon Villages 2010

Clean, melony Chardonnay, vinified in stainless steel. Crisply, citrus and fresh with some concentration of fruit.

Bourgogne Chardonnay 2009

Richer and nuttier than the Macon, with lemony fruit and fresh acidity – a blend of Cote d’Or and Maconnais fruit, very well put together.

Saint Aubin 2007 (Blanc)

Surprisingly floral, the ripe fruit is well supported by just enough oak. It has tangy acidity and a little minerality – a very attractive wine.

Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru Morgeot 2001 (Blanc)

Now quite a deep gold, this is a big, soft and quite powerful wine, and just a little oxidative, with a smell of walnuts. Again it’s oxidative on the palate, rich and a little bitter/phenolic. I don’t think it will improve. I asked Dominique Mounier if sulphur levels have been diminished in recent years – a moot question in Burgundy. He told me that they have been increased at Jadot and attempted to put me in my place by adding that most wine writers have recognised the folly of too low sulphur levels … I am obviously not in the mainstream.

Beaujolais Villages 2010

‘We believe in Beaujolais’ affirms Mounier and this is a fine result: full of bright, crunchy red cherry fruit with a hint of something darker and more concentrated.

Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2008

Not too deep, but beautifully perfumed and with nicely balanced redcurrant and raspberry fruit – a very good effort.

Nuits Saint Georges Premier Cru, Aux Boudots, 2005

From a superb site, on the border with Vosne-Romanée, this has something of the exciting perfume of its neighbour – violets  with ripe black fruit. It is splendidly complex and rich, with lingering silky tannins.

Corton-Les Pougets Grand Cru 1999

Fabulous aroma of bitter cherries in alcohol with darker fruit underneath; rich, still quite chewy and powerful, it seems young. A great mouthful of fruit, long and fine, Jadot at its very best.

First an apology – after three weeks without internet access (rescued by Plusnet when Talk Talk failed me) and then four computers in seven days, this blog has slumbered too long.  I’ll try and do better.

I have long enjoyed Chateau d’Acqueria’s Tavel (and, indeed, their Lirac). The 2009 Tavel, bought from Carruthers & Kent for £11.49 is very special. Mind you, it’s so deep that it’s almost a light red – the antithesis of a Provencal pink. It manages to be both savoury and fruity. The latter is ripe stawberry and cherry, the former is signalled on the nose by a herby scent and in the mouth, but a long salty, mineral aftertaste. It’s one of the most complex and flavourful pink wines I’ve ever tasted. The only (minor) fault is that it’s rather soft, though the minerality helps a lot to make up for that. Try it!