Rhone Wine

Two great back to back vintages are the 1990 and 1989. The more developed 1990 boasts an incredible perfume of hickory wood, coffee, smoked meat, Asian spices, black cherries, and blackberries. Lush, opulent, and full-bodied,... Read More

The 1994 seems less successful than my early tastings indicated. The high percentage of Mourvedre (40% versus the normal 30%) has given it an earthy, leathery character with hints of mushrooms and tree bark. Although dense and... Read More

The opaque ruby/purple-colored 2000 Chateauneuf du Pape offers a profoundly sweet perfume of melted licorice, blackberries, and black cherries backed up by loads of glycerin, full body, and moderately high but sweet, well-integrated... Read More

The 2003 Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape turned out as well as I could have hoped and is certainly an outstanding wine, deep ruby/purple with a tight but promising nose of black fruits, loamy, earthy notes intermixed with pepper,... Read More

The 2003 Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape turned out as well as I could have hoped and is certainly an outstanding wine, deep ruby/purple with a tight but promising nose of black fruits, loamy, earthy notes intermixed with pepper,... Read More

Unfortunately, the 2003 Châteauneuf du Pape Hommage À Jacques Perrin was subtly corked. You could still see its potential (and I recommended the table drink it quickly before the TCA became even more apparent), but this is the... Read More

The 2004 Châteauneuf du Pape Hommage À Jacques Perrin continues to show well, and was even more open from this bottle than from one earlier this year. While still youthful, it has beautiful complexity and depth on the palate,... Read More

Tasted three weeks after bottling, I couldn't quite bring myself to give the elusive three-digit score to this admittedly super wine. Perhaps once the 2016 Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin has been in bottle a... Read More

This is a Provencal, peppery, spicy, garrigue-scented wine, with extraordinary concentration, loads of glycerin, full body, yet no sense of heaviness or lack of definition. Enormously-endowed and majestic, it possesses a huge... Read More

The Cuvee Centenaire is produced from ancient vine (planted in 1889) Grenache (80% of the blend, along with 8% Syrah and 12% Mourvedre). The 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Centenaire is superior to the 2000, but slightly behind... Read More

The full-bodied, silky-textured 2018 Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc is an equal-parts blend of Bourboulenc, Clairette, Grenache Blanc, Picpoul Blanc and Roussanne, part of which went into oak (30%). Tropical notes of banana and papaya... Read More

The 2016 Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc Extrait is a stunning blend of 80% Roussanne and 20% Grenache Blanc, matured in concrete and demi-muids. This medium to full-bodied wine is lush and creamy on the palate yet stays zesty and fresh,... Read More

Chapoutier's Ermitage l'Ermite possesses a transparent character that almost allows the taster to see through the wine's multiple levels. What stands out is the liqueur of granite liquid minerality. The elegant 1998... Read More

From a warmer micro-climate, the 2006 Ermitage Le Meal blanc boasts extraordinarily intense fruit, glycerin, and tactile impression. Stones, cherries, red currants, quince, and honeyed citrus are all present in this colossal wine... Read More