Super Northern Rhone Tasting Featuring Guigal, Jaboulet and more...

*Our evening began in Peter Seychelles comfortable study in his New York townhouse,

Where the candlelight was just right, the hi-hi was in the background and the wine was delicious.

What's the secret, Peter?

Naturally, I'll say the wine

Mmmm, it does go well with the chicken.

Delicious again, Peter.*

Beatie Boys - The Blue Nun

The wines of the Rhone Valley are some of the most famous in all of France.  The wines of the Southern Rhone Valley starting north of the town of Avignon with the new house of the Pope "Chateauneuf du Pape" whose wines are based on the Grenache varietal but usually contain several other grapes five of which are white!

The wines of the Northern Rhone are very different from the South as Syrah is the star of the show here.  The wines of Cote Rotie and Hermitage are rare in that the regions are fairly small and the top wines are made in minute quantities like Guigal's La La wines made from three of the top vineyard sites of the Cote Rotie region. 

The granite hills of Hermitage rise above the Rhone at Tain l'Hermitage where the river bends sharply to the east before resuming a southward flow. This gives the vineyards a direct southern exposure. Vines have been grown here since Roman times, and Pliney the elder wrote favorably about the wines of the region. The locals claim that vines were first planted here by Phocaean Greeks around 500 BC. Although the evidence is not conclusive, Greek coins and amphorae dating back to 500 BC have been found in the area.

Some experts feel that the greatest maker of Hermitage is the firm of Jean-Louis Chave. The Chave family has been growing grapes at Hermitage since 1481. They have a reputation for making good wine in poor years, and excellent wine in good ones. They use low yielding vines (average age 60 years) and a late harvest to produce the ripest fruit, and there is virtually no intervention in the winemaking and bottling with no filtration.

The Guigal Cote Rotie La Landonne 1998 (100 Points RP) and the 2015 Jean Louis Chave Hermitage alone are worth the price of admission but we have 6 other top level wines from the Northern Rhone valley’s top producers and at least 10 years old.   

I have included all the wines from the Southern and Northern Rhone that are available in the store on this e-mail.  Chef Toni Lampasone will be making a special meal to accompany the tasting wines.  The fee for this tasting which included dinner and gratuity is $395 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

Super Northern Rhone Wine Tasting at Wine Watch Wine Bar

Friday, October 16th

7:30pm

2001 Chateau-Grillet Rhone

2015 Delas Freres Condrieu Clos Boucher

1998 E. Guigal Cote Rotie La Landonne

2003 Delas Freres Hermitage Les Bessards, Rhone

2005 Robert Michel Cornas Cuvee des Coteaux

2009 Paul Jaboulet Aine a Petite Chapelle Hermitage

2015 Jean Louis Chave Hermitage Rouge

2016 Paul Jaboulet Cote Rotie Domaine des Pierrelles

Menu

Charcuterie and Cheese

French Onion Soup

Beef Tartar Served Over Bone Marrow with Whole Wheat Toast and Truffle Aioli

Moroccan Lamb Barbecue with Sweet potato fries

Plum Cake with Anise molassis frosting

The fee for this tasting which included dinner and gratuity is $395 per person for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.  Please let us know when you make your reservations if you have any food allergies or aversions and chefs Toni and Dani will be happy to accommodate you.