March Brown Bag Notes

Your tasting notes for the 1983 Jaboulet La Chapelle remind me that I have a bottle or two of it that I need to taste soon according to your notes and those by Broadbent in his recent book. I recently had a bottle of the 1982 that was still holding very well. Broadbent also liked this better than the 83, but he has not tasted it in a long time. It is interested that many rate 83 above 82 for much of the Rhone in general. If you had believed the hype when both the 82 and 83 were new on the market, you would have bought only 83. I usually try to buy a variety of decent vintages rather than just one, since surprises can always happen in the long term.

I tasted and then bought 1982 (still have a few bottles of the La Chapelle - first person to open one has to post notes) instead of 1983. Guess my taste (and Broadbent) was right as far as longevity, anyway.

I had the 1982 La Chapelle last year at a tasting.

I remember it being full of exotic spices, sage, plums, mature fruit, absolutely fantasitic to drink. Good balance of tannins and acidity, I think it is almost perfect to drink right now. I wouldn't imagine it getting better though it will probably be a few more years before it begins to slide down. It really stood out for me in a night where I tasted 88 La Turque, 82 Mouton+Lafite, 89 Bordeaux's and much more. A really great wine.

Very interesting notes on the 2001 Osoyoos Larose. I'll be attending the launch for it next week here in Toronto; winemaker and principals from both Taillan and Vincor will be in attendance to do a structured tasting.

I'm curious to see how it will be received; I'll try and post my notes as I have a busy tasting week next week. For some reason, the three wine clubs I'm a member of have their tastings all scheduled for the same week in April. Thus I'll be tasting 1998 CdP, 1990 Cdp, and Sicilian Nero d'Avola on consecutive nights. It's a rough life ;-)

Peter

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The above gives my TN for the 82 Hermitage from February. In case the link does not work, just go to Google groups and search on "cwdjrxNOSPAM Hermitage" .

054-4042D64C-11%40storefull-3175.bay.webtv.net&rnum=1

And I replied with my note on the wine as well.

Deja vua all over again. -Yogi Berra