Vanessa

9.3

It’s always a resounding ‘YES’ for JL Chave!!

That includes this luscious and concentrated Syrah from Saint-Joseph AOC in the Northern Rhône of France.

Domaine Jean-Louis Chave is a benchmark and icon of the Rhône Valley – a family-run operation since 1481 – with an entire range of deliciousness through the Domaine Jean-Louis Chave and JL Chave Selection portfolios.

This wine is deep ruby, trending on purple. It has pronounced aromas and flavors of boysenberry, blueberry, black cherry, cassis, pomegranate, also violet, bacon, sanguine, saddle leather, pipe tobacco, clove, cigar, damp earth, and black peppercorn. Alcohol is high (14.5% ABV) with medium (+) fine-grained and well-integrated tannins, medium (+) acidity, a medium (+) body, and a long, elegant finish.

It has a rustic and savory character with robust dark fruit notes; it’s layered, complex, structured, and age-worthy, benefitting from decanting. Still, it’s tasting wonderfully now.

Cheers to JL Chave and treasures of the Rhône!! — 23 days ago

with Deked1

Alvaro Bustillos

9.3

Jesus o augusto jason mazf lalo o diego jeff — 6 days ago

Lee Pitofsky

9.4

Excellent 08. Chave and Allemand nailed the difficult vintage in Northern Rhône, and 2008 Hermitage is showing beautifully tonight, fresh, elegant and detailed with aromas of juicy red berry fruit, bacon, herbs and smoky minerals. Perhaps a little rough around the edges as expected for the vintage but really, a beautiful rendition this year and it’s fully open and ready to drink. — a day ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.5

Medium lemon yellow , persistent fine perlage . At first quite shy , needs a bit of time to get going . Then buttered pastry , confit lemon and roast nuts , quite bold and rich , just a hint of chalky minerality . On the palate the richer , deeper theme continues , those pastry and buttery notes , confit lemon and a creamy mouthfeel . Long balanced finish , the chalky acidity really helping to cut through richer , mouth filling profile . Coming back to this at the end of the meal , having sat 6 hours in the glass , this still shows remarkable freshness and life. This seems young to me still , certainly has everything for a long life ahead , better in 5 years perhaps and will show well a further 10-15 perhaps . — 3 hours ago

Shay A

9.2

Annual birthday WWC hosting. As normal, 1 sparkler, 3 whites, 4 reds, 1 dessert, all presented blind.

Fun to open birth year wines around your birthday, especially when you can do a Bordeaux and Napa side by side. While not a great vintage, this held up well after a few hours and presented as expected. Clean and zero Brett. Great color! Deep ruby with hardly any bricking. Leather, cassis, vanilla pipe tobacco on the nose. Sporting a good bit of dusty red and black fruits (mostly tart raspberries and blackberries), there was a little savory truffle note mixed with an herbal and mocha finish. Still quite grippy. Pretty. — 7 days ago

Jeroen Koenen

9.3

Wonderful nose! On the palate… it’s elegant, light, fresh and sinewy, — 4 days ago

Ron Siegel

9.3

Better than my last btl showing pear, citrus, mineral, white flower with good acidity. — 16 days ago

Jay Kline

9.2

Splash decanted directly prior to service, the 2018 Morey Saint Denis pours a deep ruby with a transparent core; medium+ viscosity with no staining of the tears. On the nose the wine is youthful with powerful notes of ripe and tart red fruits: red cherries, red brambles, red flowers, some herbs and a healthy dollop of warm spices. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium tannin and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is long and luxurious. A fairly flashy wine and, to my palate, the oak is showing prominently right now. Not out of balance, but close. The alcohol is up there…but it is pretty well disguised. Not wimpy, that’s for sure. While this is certainly full of energy and character right now, I think this wine would enjoy some time in the cellar to show even better. Drink from 2028 through 2043. — 6 days ago

Doug Powers

9.5

Shows a little bit of funky, faint Brett aromas, flavors are rich, dark-fruited, and more youthful than the ‘86 Mouton which we also opened, long, lingering finish, very fine!! — 18 hours ago

with Jim

Ron Siegel

9.3

Consistent with my last btl showing rich red & black fruit with sweet, savory spice, graphite & tobacco notes — 11 days ago