Opened four hours and left in cellar, then decanted just prior to consumption. When I entered the cellar to grab the bottle the perfume nearly knocked me down.
Consumed with braised beef shortribs and all I can say is WOW...a perfect pairing. Classic presentation and a real sensory treat. A lot of life left so for those members with a stash of this wine, there is no hurry to consume.
1998 Verset Cornas
Re: 1998 Verset Cornas
Sounds nice. Did the vineyards get sold/inherited ?
We had the 99 Voge VV a couple of years ago which was a savory wine.
I read somewhere that Pontet Canet's acreage is larger than all of Cornas AOC!
We had the 99 Voge VV a couple of years ago which was a savory wine.
I read somewhere that Pontet Canet's acreage is larger than all of Cornas AOC!
Re: 1998 Verset Cornas
RPCV, this wine seems wonderful. I will taste a Verset wine one day, as it seems very glorious for Cornas. Very hard to find.
Nic
Nic
Re: 1998 Verset Cornas
Nic, it was really a super bottle. Red-fruited and so elegant. I don't watch for price appreciation in our cellar but I must admit that I was shocked at the high prices these wines are achieving.
AKR, there is a nice article on Noel Verset from the NY Times in 2015. Search through Google and you will find it. He passed in 2015 at the age of 95 and his story is something of legend.
AKR, there is a nice article on Noel Verset from the NY Times in 2015. Search through Google and you will find it. He passed in 2015 at the age of 95 and his story is something of legend.
Re: 1998 Verset Cornas
Here's the Verset obituary by Asimov. Looks like the BB software won't let me upload the file.
EUROPE
Noël Verset, Vigneron Who Helped Save a Wine Tradition, Dies at 95
By ERIC ASIMOV SEPT. 19, 2015
Noël Verset, whose perseverance laboring in the steep, granite vineyards of Cornas, in the Rhône Valley of France, helped the Cornas appellation survive to be discovered by a new generation of wine lovers, died on Sept. 11 in Guilherand- Granges, France. He was 95.
His death was confirmed by Franck Balthazar, his nephew, who himself grows grapes and makes wine in Cornas.
During Mr. Verset’s 75-year career as a vigneron, Cornas evolved from a little known backwater to one of the world’s most renowned regions for red wines made from the syrah grape. By the turn of the millennium, his wines, made in tiny quantities, were being celebrated as among the purest expressions of what Cornas had to offer.
His wines might very easily have never been discovered. Beginning in the late 19th century, with the arrival of phylloxera, a ravenous aphid that devastated grapevines all over Europe, Cornas faced decades of catastrophe that almost wiped out its vineyards. A solution to phylloxera was found, but many Cornas vineyards, on precipitous slopes first planted 1,000 or more years earlier, were never restored.
Then two world wars, which sandwiched the Great Depression, robbed the region of much of its agricultural work force. The labor drain continued after World War II, when many of the young men of Cornas, following a path taken all over industrializing Europe, left agriculture to work in factories. More vineyards were abandoned, deemed too difficult to work for the pittance that could be earned.
But Mr. Verset (pronounced vehr-SAY) and a few others, like Auguste Clape and Mr. Balthazar’s father, René Balthazar, persisted in their traditional arduous labor, trudging up the hillside to the vineyards as their ancestors had done. The rewards were not great.
In the 1940s and ’50s, few vignerons bottled their own wines. Most of the Cornas wines were sold by the barrel directly to local bars and restaurants, or to merchants who bought finished wines and bottled them with their own labels, often under the Côtes du Rhône appellation. Many grape growers took additional jobs to make ends meet. Mr. Verset himself worked for many years with the railroad in the nearby city of Valence.
Times remained tough into the early 1980s. Even as other northern Rhône regions like Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie were developing worldwide reputations, Cornas remained barely known outside France, its wines often described as black, rustic and powerful. At one point, in the late ’70s, the village of Cornas entertained proposals to allow developers to build housing on the vineyard land, but the opposition, including many vignerons, won out.
With that respite came new attention to the wines, and new visitors like the American importer Kermit Lynch, who sought out French wines made by producers like Mr. Verset, who shunned the labor-saving blandishments of automation and chemical farming.
“I found Noël, when I was tasting, in practically every Cornas cellar there was at the time, and I knew from the first visit that I’d found something special,” Mr. Lynch said in an interview. “He made a Cornas that was dark and intense, but with a silky texture that no one else had.”
In the 1990s and especially in the last 15 years, Mr. Verset’s wines came to be prized around the world. They were not perfect in a technical sense, but their beauty shone through in their complexity, authenticity, soulfulness and sense of history. They seemed to tell the story of Cornas in every glass.
Noël Verset was born in Cornas, France, on Dec. 4, 1919. His father, Emmanuel, was a vigneron, and young Noël worked his first vintage with his father in 1931, having left school at the age of 12, as many young French farm children did. In 1943, he married Aline Balthazar and set off to work vineyards of his own, although his father continued to help him well into his own old age.
His wife died in 1989. Mr. Verset is survived by two daughters, Sylvette and Simone.
While Mr. Verset had always bottled a small amount of wine for family consumption, it was not until the 1980s that he began to bottle a larger proportion and his name became more widely known. By the late ’90s, acolytes were making pilgrimages to Cornas to visit him.
“His later years brought forth enthusiastic visitors, often from overseas and not all male — a bit like those paying homage to B. B. King,” the British wine writer John Livingstone-Learmonth, author of “The Wines of the Northern Rhône,” said in an interview.
Like his father, Mr. Verset continued to trudge up the hillside to his vineyards when he was well into his 80s. His last vintage was 2006.
Correction: September 21, 2015
An earlier version of this obituary misstated Mr. Verset’s date of birth. It was
Dec. 4, 1919, not Dec. 3.
A version of this article appears in print on September 23, 2015, on Page A25 of the New York edition with the headline: Noël Verset, Vintner Who Helped Save a Region’s Wine Tradition, Dies at 95.
EUROPE
Noël Verset, Vigneron Who Helped Save a Wine Tradition, Dies at 95
By ERIC ASIMOV SEPT. 19, 2015
Noël Verset, whose perseverance laboring in the steep, granite vineyards of Cornas, in the Rhône Valley of France, helped the Cornas appellation survive to be discovered by a new generation of wine lovers, died on Sept. 11 in Guilherand- Granges, France. He was 95.
His death was confirmed by Franck Balthazar, his nephew, who himself grows grapes and makes wine in Cornas.
During Mr. Verset’s 75-year career as a vigneron, Cornas evolved from a little known backwater to one of the world’s most renowned regions for red wines made from the syrah grape. By the turn of the millennium, his wines, made in tiny quantities, were being celebrated as among the purest expressions of what Cornas had to offer.
His wines might very easily have never been discovered. Beginning in the late 19th century, with the arrival of phylloxera, a ravenous aphid that devastated grapevines all over Europe, Cornas faced decades of catastrophe that almost wiped out its vineyards. A solution to phylloxera was found, but many Cornas vineyards, on precipitous slopes first planted 1,000 or more years earlier, were never restored.
Then two world wars, which sandwiched the Great Depression, robbed the region of much of its agricultural work force. The labor drain continued after World War II, when many of the young men of Cornas, following a path taken all over industrializing Europe, left agriculture to work in factories. More vineyards were abandoned, deemed too difficult to work for the pittance that could be earned.
But Mr. Verset (pronounced vehr-SAY) and a few others, like Auguste Clape and Mr. Balthazar’s father, René Balthazar, persisted in their traditional arduous labor, trudging up the hillside to the vineyards as their ancestors had done. The rewards were not great.
In the 1940s and ’50s, few vignerons bottled their own wines. Most of the Cornas wines were sold by the barrel directly to local bars and restaurants, or to merchants who bought finished wines and bottled them with their own labels, often under the Côtes du Rhône appellation. Many grape growers took additional jobs to make ends meet. Mr. Verset himself worked for many years with the railroad in the nearby city of Valence.
Times remained tough into the early 1980s. Even as other northern Rhône regions like Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie were developing worldwide reputations, Cornas remained barely known outside France, its wines often described as black, rustic and powerful. At one point, in the late ’70s, the village of Cornas entertained proposals to allow developers to build housing on the vineyard land, but the opposition, including many vignerons, won out.
With that respite came new attention to the wines, and new visitors like the American importer Kermit Lynch, who sought out French wines made by producers like Mr. Verset, who shunned the labor-saving blandishments of automation and chemical farming.
“I found Noël, when I was tasting, in practically every Cornas cellar there was at the time, and I knew from the first visit that I’d found something special,” Mr. Lynch said in an interview. “He made a Cornas that was dark and intense, but with a silky texture that no one else had.”
In the 1990s and especially in the last 15 years, Mr. Verset’s wines came to be prized around the world. They were not perfect in a technical sense, but their beauty shone through in their complexity, authenticity, soulfulness and sense of history. They seemed to tell the story of Cornas in every glass.
Noël Verset was born in Cornas, France, on Dec. 4, 1919. His father, Emmanuel, was a vigneron, and young Noël worked his first vintage with his father in 1931, having left school at the age of 12, as many young French farm children did. In 1943, he married Aline Balthazar and set off to work vineyards of his own, although his father continued to help him well into his own old age.
His wife died in 1989. Mr. Verset is survived by two daughters, Sylvette and Simone.
While Mr. Verset had always bottled a small amount of wine for family consumption, it was not until the 1980s that he began to bottle a larger proportion and his name became more widely known. By the late ’90s, acolytes were making pilgrimages to Cornas to visit him.
“His later years brought forth enthusiastic visitors, often from overseas and not all male — a bit like those paying homage to B. B. King,” the British wine writer John Livingstone-Learmonth, author of “The Wines of the Northern Rhône,” said in an interview.
Like his father, Mr. Verset continued to trudge up the hillside to his vineyards when he was well into his 80s. His last vintage was 2006.
Correction: September 21, 2015
An earlier version of this obituary misstated Mr. Verset’s date of birth. It was
Dec. 4, 1919, not Dec. 3.
A version of this article appears in print on September 23, 2015, on Page A25 of the New York edition with the headline: Noël Verset, Vintner Who Helped Save a Region’s Wine Tradition, Dies at 95.
Re: 1998 Verset Cornas
Its crazy what Cornas goes for now. And unlike a Barde Haut which is going to make nearly anyone happy, these are wines that are polarizing. The typical CaliCab palate out here isn't jumping up and down when tasting this AOC.
We had a 15 M. Graillot C-H recently, and my wife's first question was "is it supposed to taste like this?" Not exactly the same as a Cornas not too far away either.....
We had a 15 M. Graillot C-H recently, and my wife's first question was "is it supposed to taste like this?" Not exactly the same as a Cornas not too far away either.....
Re: 1998 Verset Cornas
I only had a Noel Verset Cornas once and it was an amazing experience. I think you and Jen were there as well, Arv. It was at my old place in January 2008 (jeez!) with Beckwith, Emil, Gio, Jackdaw and Pappa. We had as bunch of great wines that evening, including a 70 or 75 Yquem and the Verset (I believe it was a late 80s vintage) that Beckwith brought blew everyone away.
Best
Jacques
Jacques
Re: 1998 Verset Cornas
I was lucky here and put my hands on some 2010 and 2012 Clape. Hope they will be as special as Verset.
Nic
Nic
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Re: 1998 Verset Cornas
Thanks for those notes, RPCV. Verset Cornas is a legendary wine. If you think it is expensive it is only a third the price of Gentaz-Dervieux Côte Rotie.
When Noel Verset died in 2015 I suggested we do a tribute dinner, and we were privileged to have John Livingstone-Learmonth join us. I suggested that the title of the dinner should be ‘In Verset Veritas’ and it was memorable. I count myself very lucky to own bottles of this in vintages spanning 1990 to 1999, and including the 1998 which was declared the winner of the tribute dinner. My favourite three vintages are 1989, 1990 and 1991. I paid about $40 a bottle for my 98s and 99s in 2012.
This is a write up of the dinner I posted here in 9/15:
http://www.bordeauxwineenthusiasts.com/ ... f=4&t=6039
These are my (slightly over the top) notes from a Northern Rhône dinner in 2012:
Sunday, 25 March 2012
A Northern Rhone Odyssey
Maureen organised a brilliant northern rhone dinner last Thursday, with a star-studded line up of rare and esoteric wines, connoisseurs and relics...
We started off on a high note...
Chateau Grillet, 2005
Pale but radiant; exceptionally light on its feet with subtle stone fruits, igneous slate and minerals; beguiling and complex; its firm acidic backbone will allow this to age effortlessly. A wine with impeccable balance and dexterity.
Condrieu ‘Coteau de Vernon’ Domaine Vernay 2004
Mature, aromatic with fine texture, honey-blossom, acacia and apricots.
On to the first flight of reds, Cote Roties:
Burgaud Cote Rotie 1988
Off-piste; meaty, carnal, brawny, foursquare, sous-bois; verdant.
Jasmin Cote Rotie 1990 en magnum
Gamey and earthy this wine displays a surreal symbiosis of floral femininity and masculine backbone and punch. Intricately woven and kaleidoscopic, it has an ethereal levity and a pleasing tension with subtle notes of Madagascar cocoa, wolframite, mysterious dark fruits, Mediterranean olives, wet fox, iodine and black and white pepper.
This is perhaps the quintessential expression of northern rhone and the syrah grape. It was deservedly the wine of the night.
Jamet Cote Rotie 1988
Brutal, marauding and powerful, but somewhat lacking in elegance compared to the Jasmin; masculine, brawny and chewy with lashings of bacon fat and smatterings of olives/tapenade, leather and Mediterranean herbs. A bit of VA permeated this wine, and the finish wasn't smooth. This bottle was not as good as one we tasted in April 2011.
Noel Verset Cornas 1989
Delicate, ethereal and earthy with leather, bramble and sour cherries; it had gamey, bacon notes, tobacco, mocha and mineral, impeccably balanced. Transcendental.
Noel Verset Cornas 1990
Initially quite closed, and somewhat curmudgeonly this had hints of autumn leaves, earth, iodine, feldspar, smoke, bacon fat, and animal hides. An intellectual wine which mesmerises you as it metamorphoses with its intricately woven tapestry, Delphic personality and cognitive dissonance.
Noel Verset Cornas 1991
Complex, animal hide, earthy and spicy. A perfectly judged expression of mature syrah, another cerebral wine, which weaves its charms with an almost Kafka-esque reflexivity.
August Clape Cornas 1991
A much more expressive nose of mushroom, olives, tapenade, flowers, machine oil, tungsten carbide and mahogany; plummy and beefy, St-James's Street tobacconist. Lithe and svelte on the palate.
Allemand Cornas Reynard 94
Masculine and fruit forward, beefy cow hide, savoury, minerally, and olive/tapenade. This young wine lacked the subtlety and complexity of some of the others but was thrillingly raw and intense.
Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle 1982
Gamey, spicy, dried flowers, opaque. Bacon fat, dried herbs, sous-bois, umami, rose petals, Romeo y Julieta robusto. Dried plums and orange peel, savoury with lively acidity but mellow at the same time.
This dinner would not have been what it was without the generosity of Richard Katz the North London Northern Rhone Maestro, who could not attend in the flesh but was with us spiritually.
When Noel Verset died in 2015 I suggested we do a tribute dinner, and we were privileged to have John Livingstone-Learmonth join us. I suggested that the title of the dinner should be ‘In Verset Veritas’ and it was memorable. I count myself very lucky to own bottles of this in vintages spanning 1990 to 1999, and including the 1998 which was declared the winner of the tribute dinner. My favourite three vintages are 1989, 1990 and 1991. I paid about $40 a bottle for my 98s and 99s in 2012.
This is a write up of the dinner I posted here in 9/15:
http://www.bordeauxwineenthusiasts.com/ ... f=4&t=6039
These are my (slightly over the top) notes from a Northern Rhône dinner in 2012:
Sunday, 25 March 2012
A Northern Rhone Odyssey
Maureen organised a brilliant northern rhone dinner last Thursday, with a star-studded line up of rare and esoteric wines, connoisseurs and relics...
We started off on a high note...
Chateau Grillet, 2005
Pale but radiant; exceptionally light on its feet with subtle stone fruits, igneous slate and minerals; beguiling and complex; its firm acidic backbone will allow this to age effortlessly. A wine with impeccable balance and dexterity.
Condrieu ‘Coteau de Vernon’ Domaine Vernay 2004
Mature, aromatic with fine texture, honey-blossom, acacia and apricots.
On to the first flight of reds, Cote Roties:
Burgaud Cote Rotie 1988
Off-piste; meaty, carnal, brawny, foursquare, sous-bois; verdant.
Jasmin Cote Rotie 1990 en magnum
Gamey and earthy this wine displays a surreal symbiosis of floral femininity and masculine backbone and punch. Intricately woven and kaleidoscopic, it has an ethereal levity and a pleasing tension with subtle notes of Madagascar cocoa, wolframite, mysterious dark fruits, Mediterranean olives, wet fox, iodine and black and white pepper.
This is perhaps the quintessential expression of northern rhone and the syrah grape. It was deservedly the wine of the night.
Jamet Cote Rotie 1988
Brutal, marauding and powerful, but somewhat lacking in elegance compared to the Jasmin; masculine, brawny and chewy with lashings of bacon fat and smatterings of olives/tapenade, leather and Mediterranean herbs. A bit of VA permeated this wine, and the finish wasn't smooth. This bottle was not as good as one we tasted in April 2011.
Noel Verset Cornas 1989
Delicate, ethereal and earthy with leather, bramble and sour cherries; it had gamey, bacon notes, tobacco, mocha and mineral, impeccably balanced. Transcendental.
Noel Verset Cornas 1990
Initially quite closed, and somewhat curmudgeonly this had hints of autumn leaves, earth, iodine, feldspar, smoke, bacon fat, and animal hides. An intellectual wine which mesmerises you as it metamorphoses with its intricately woven tapestry, Delphic personality and cognitive dissonance.
Noel Verset Cornas 1991
Complex, animal hide, earthy and spicy. A perfectly judged expression of mature syrah, another cerebral wine, which weaves its charms with an almost Kafka-esque reflexivity.
August Clape Cornas 1991
A much more expressive nose of mushroom, olives, tapenade, flowers, machine oil, tungsten carbide and mahogany; plummy and beefy, St-James's Street tobacconist. Lithe and svelte on the palate.
Allemand Cornas Reynard 94
Masculine and fruit forward, beefy cow hide, savoury, minerally, and olive/tapenade. This young wine lacked the subtlety and complexity of some of the others but was thrillingly raw and intense.
Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle 1982
Gamey, spicy, dried flowers, opaque. Bacon fat, dried herbs, sous-bois, umami, rose petals, Romeo y Julieta robusto. Dried plums and orange peel, savoury with lively acidity but mellow at the same time.
This dinner would not have been what it was without the generosity of Richard Katz the North London Northern Rhone Maestro, who could not attend in the flesh but was with us spiritually.
Re: 1998 Verset Cornas
It must have been a good time, since details are blurry!jal wrote:I only had a Noel Verset Cornas once and it was an amazing experience. I think you and Jen were there as well, Arv. It was at my old place in January 2008 (jeez!) with Beckwith, Emil, Gio, Jackdaw and Pappa. We had as bunch of great wines that evening, including a 70 or 75 Yquem and the Verset (I believe it was a late 80s vintage) that Beckwith brought blew everyone away.
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