TN: 61, 78 & 90 Hermitage La Chapelle – the Holy Trinity
Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 9:02 am
An six month note, but these won't have changed...
I was lucky enough to be invited to taste these 3 wines (amongst others) in late October 2008 with one of the greatest wine dinners I have ever had.
Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle 1961
This was it… my Holy Grail wine standing right in front of me, dense ruby but just so incredibly youthful to look at, it is like a 5 year old save the rim which shows a little age. But it’s the nose on this wine that makes it the most incomparable wine I have ever smelt, and even beats the 03 Chave tried two years ago by a mile! Perfect in every sense and just so full of complexity words fail me. It starts with massive, soaring meaty/gamey notes and floods you with so many ever-changing uber complex nuances it becomes apparent that you can’t pin anything down. But the poise & class was so much in place here words fail me with every element just dancing and enticing you with waves of luxurious intricacy. Sweeter than the 78 and with such concentrated fruit it beggars belief in a wine that is forty-seven years of age. An incredible and very masculine wine with years ahead of it. The word ’mythical’ probably sums this bottle up.
Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle 1978
This is certainly a more feminine wine showing more in the way of elegant red fruits, as opposed to sweeter/bigger black fruit in the 61 & 90 when put side by side. Ideally this should have had a longer decant at the restaurant. I’ve copied my note from January 2008 as the wine hasn’t really budged, but I have slightly modified it…
Deep ruby with almost no bricking – in fact lighter in colour than the 61. Still stubborn on the nose, but with plenty of coaxing this slowly comes into an exquisite & vibrant life. And what a nose - so amazingly fresh & full of everything exotic and complex one could want in a Syrah – concentrated red berries, black pepper, roast duck, brown spice, black olive, dried mushroom, roast herbs, liquorice, smoke & savoury qualities etc, etc, etc– you could just go on with descriptors but as the wine seems to change as every hour passes. The full-bodied palate has extraordinary presence, not sweet or lush but still very ripe and incredibly tannic with an acidic streak holding the ripeness in check. This was a bottle of wine showing stunning balance, amazing structure, effortless power, perfect harmony & impeccable presence. Ends with the most incredible persistence and length. A benchmark for Hermitage rouge and still evolving.
Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle 1990
I’ve had this wine several times before & it has always been outstanding, but next to the 78 & 61 you get the sense that it is so far from maturity it is infanticide. The darkest of the trio. This had a double decant 3 hours before consuming and ia a comparatively bigger, tighter and the most backward of the three wines but in 10 – 15 years this will strut its stuff as it seems to be made & structured in very much the same mould of the 61 but with the obvious freshness. On its own this would be WOTF but sadly it had the 78 & 90 to compete against. I prefered it to the very elegant and smooth Chave this time.
Oh yes… we also had 1990 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill, 1946 Huet Vouvray ‘Le Huet Lieu Sec’, 1978 Gros Frere et Soeur Clos Vougeot Grand Cru, 1986 Ponsot Griotte-Chambertin Grand Cru, 1957 Biondi Santi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, 1990 Chave Hermitage Rouge, 1978 Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion, 1978 Chateau La Tour Haut-Brion, 1990 Chateau Figeac, 1997 Barbaresco, Gaja, 1989 Huet Vouvray Cuvee Constance, 1989 Huet Vouvray Clos du Bourg Moelleux 1er trie and the most superb bottle of 1945 Croft Vintage Port.
The most amazing night of wine and food I have ever had.
I was lucky enough to be invited to taste these 3 wines (amongst others) in late October 2008 with one of the greatest wine dinners I have ever had.
Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle 1961
This was it… my Holy Grail wine standing right in front of me, dense ruby but just so incredibly youthful to look at, it is like a 5 year old save the rim which shows a little age. But it’s the nose on this wine that makes it the most incomparable wine I have ever smelt, and even beats the 03 Chave tried two years ago by a mile! Perfect in every sense and just so full of complexity words fail me. It starts with massive, soaring meaty/gamey notes and floods you with so many ever-changing uber complex nuances it becomes apparent that you can’t pin anything down. But the poise & class was so much in place here words fail me with every element just dancing and enticing you with waves of luxurious intricacy. Sweeter than the 78 and with such concentrated fruit it beggars belief in a wine that is forty-seven years of age. An incredible and very masculine wine with years ahead of it. The word ’mythical’ probably sums this bottle up.
Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle 1978
This is certainly a more feminine wine showing more in the way of elegant red fruits, as opposed to sweeter/bigger black fruit in the 61 & 90 when put side by side. Ideally this should have had a longer decant at the restaurant. I’ve copied my note from January 2008 as the wine hasn’t really budged, but I have slightly modified it…
Deep ruby with almost no bricking – in fact lighter in colour than the 61. Still stubborn on the nose, but with plenty of coaxing this slowly comes into an exquisite & vibrant life. And what a nose - so amazingly fresh & full of everything exotic and complex one could want in a Syrah – concentrated red berries, black pepper, roast duck, brown spice, black olive, dried mushroom, roast herbs, liquorice, smoke & savoury qualities etc, etc, etc– you could just go on with descriptors but as the wine seems to change as every hour passes. The full-bodied palate has extraordinary presence, not sweet or lush but still very ripe and incredibly tannic with an acidic streak holding the ripeness in check. This was a bottle of wine showing stunning balance, amazing structure, effortless power, perfect harmony & impeccable presence. Ends with the most incredible persistence and length. A benchmark for Hermitage rouge and still evolving.
Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle 1990
I’ve had this wine several times before & it has always been outstanding, but next to the 78 & 61 you get the sense that it is so far from maturity it is infanticide. The darkest of the trio. This had a double decant 3 hours before consuming and ia a comparatively bigger, tighter and the most backward of the three wines but in 10 – 15 years this will strut its stuff as it seems to be made & structured in very much the same mould of the 61 but with the obvious freshness. On its own this would be WOTF but sadly it had the 78 & 90 to compete against. I prefered it to the very elegant and smooth Chave this time.
Oh yes… we also had 1990 Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill, 1946 Huet Vouvray ‘Le Huet Lieu Sec’, 1978 Gros Frere et Soeur Clos Vougeot Grand Cru, 1986 Ponsot Griotte-Chambertin Grand Cru, 1957 Biondi Santi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, 1990 Chave Hermitage Rouge, 1978 Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion, 1978 Chateau La Tour Haut-Brion, 1990 Chateau Figeac, 1997 Barbaresco, Gaja, 1989 Huet Vouvray Cuvee Constance, 1989 Huet Vouvray Clos du Bourg Moelleux 1er trie and the most superb bottle of 1945 Croft Vintage Port.
The most amazing night of wine and food I have ever had.