Another white Hermitage I liked!

[Nicklasss]

Tonight, having a small dinner at home with MC and Simone, I did some creamy pasta with smoked salmon. Easy, tasty and good. With that, I took a chance and opened a type of white wine I have problem to understand. The white wines from the Rhone, especiallt North Rhone, have always been a mystery for me. Great wines, recognized by many wine lovers and critics, I had some problem to like them in the past. Lately, I really like the 2004 Chapoutier Chante-Alouette. I'll bring back my comments from the other site.

Tonight, I opened the 2004 Hermitage from Guigal. Color was nice yellow but not gold. Nose is really nice concentration of kind of white flowers, wax, vanilla, bit of spicy oxydation. add honey and sweet pears¸. Nice and complex. Intellectual. The mouth present a nice attack, on ripe white flesh fruits (or ultraripe honey melon), white flowers, light bitterness, wax. Light oily texture, medium flavors, elegance, low to medium acidity. Medium to long final on kind of vanillin and white chocolate with muguet (what is that kind of flower in english?) flowers. Some more bitter minerals. I liked it a lot, being everything I like, complex and elegance, no oak or overipeness. All in all, meriting a nice 91-92 tonight. I don't know how this will age, but I bought another bottle to see. I recommend it.

Sometime, you want to buy the top wines of a producer to taste great wines. But the top producer, produce great wines even with their regular wines. Remember that : a great producer, is a producer that manage to produce good to great wines, year in, year out, in every AOC, their regular cuvée as well as their top.

Nic

[Nicklasss]

This is what I wrote on the other BWE board, in June 2008, about the 2004 White Hermitage Chante-Alouette Chapoutier : My first satisfying white Hermitage. I always have a hard time to understand those white Nothern Rhone. Color was gold. Nose, not showing that much at first, with air got to lavanders, wax, oily peaches, white flowers. Nice. In mouth, superfat, low acidity but a quiet giant that invade your mouth. Thick mandarines, honey, flowers, wax flavors. Mineral and just a bit too much alcohol on the final (14.5 %). All in all, good to extra good wine. Get over the cedar salmon without problems. TN : 90-91.

The Guigal last night, did not feel alcoholic at all (13.5 % alcohol) and I preferred it.

Hermitage is a vineyard to explore. With 135 hectares, it is tiny like Côte-Rôtie and small compared to Great Bordeaux (example, chateau Lagrange is 108 hectares, if I remember well). The prices are not so bad for the regular cuvée. Even top cuvées from top producers seem affordable (150-250 $ a bottle) vs Bordeaux 2005. And the wine can age.

Why always look for Bordeaux when their prices are so high? They will loose more and more wine lovers if nothing change soon...

Nic