| | Roasted Pollock, Lemon Pilaf, Cuttlefish A truly extraordinary dish. It looked like something you might find at an ambitious gastropub, but didn't taste like it. The kitchen here is really doing good stuff right now. - 2016 Domaine Bernard Gripa St. Joseph Blanc Cuvée Le Berceau - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph
Pale colour. On the nose - pebbles and, as a fellow diner commented, mountain streams. Some substance here, many levels - and just a hint of some edge, almost butyric...by far the nicer of the whites, and it improved with time, but I'm still not really ready for a white which is somehow not relying on acid for its structure.
- 2010 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph Blanc Les Oliviers - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph
Deep colour. Nose seems very advanced - the palate is a little more balanced, but there's still a hint of the pox here, as well as a natural-ish character.
Open Lasagna of Wild Mushroom - 2007 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph
Ready to drink but still a life ahead of it. White pepper, good acid. On the palate there's black olive, rocks, stone, some oil tones - this is proper stuff. An evening where you got to contemplate a few glasses of this would be a good one...but this was only the opener.
- 2010 Pierre Gonon St. Joseph - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph
This is great - others (with more experience of this house) found more nuanced differences between this and the 07 - but to me this was just MORE - more taut energy, more substance, more clarity - there's no waffling here, no messing about - this is the real deal. Not my wine of the night, but perhaps the one I'd most like to try again.
Loin of Venison, Fondant Potato, Beetroot - 1991 Dervieux-Thaize Côte-Rôtie La Viallière - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
Stick your nose into this - it's serious business. A hint of brett perhaps? Earthy, meaty and some dark fruits. On the palate - perhaps a little plusher than expected - real energy here, and perhaps the faintest hint of VA? This all feels like damning with faint praise - this is delicious, the kind of wine that is a privilege to drink - my handwritten notes say "image of landing a plane" - no great rush to drink these, but my sense is that they will not get any better than this.
- 1998 Domaine de Vallouit Côte-Rôtie Les Roziers - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
A generous backup opened at short notice. Energy here - earth, sweat, iron, blood. As time goes on the initial intensity fades and the bones of the acidity become more obvious - this is grown up wine for grown up people.
Slow-Cooked Beef, Pomme Purée, Red Wine sauce - 1999 Clusel-Roch Côte-Rôtie Les Grandes Places - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
An altogether larger proposition than what came before it. On the nose - the oak is there. A sense of posh parma violets and a hint of campfire. This is really well put together stuff - if you had a wine friend who said they didn't like Northern Rhone - this could well be the wine to convince them.
- 1999 Domaine Duclaux Côte-Rôtie - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
The nose was a little funky, started off a little disjointed perhaps. The palate however has it all together - a high C syrah energy, but depth and complexity there too - there's soil, red fruits and a hint of nosebleed. I wonder if a different glass, or just more time would have brought the nose more in harmony with the palate? Either way - lovely stuff and just what I find exciting about syrah.
- 1999 Domaine Barge Côte-Rôtie Cuvée du Plessy - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
Well clearly senses are dulled at this stage, and indeed my writing is hard to decipher, but let's have a go. A little volatility on the nose, and a bit like the wine before it, a palate which seems far more together. There's still that lovely zinging, singing acid and it keeps going.
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