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Mary and I were recently in Boston, where it was our good fortune to spend a short time with our friends Mike and Carla Lawton (left with Danielle). Upon our arrival, we dined downtown at Troquet. This was an enjoyable restaurant that seems to be a favorite of local vino lovers for its diverse, well priced wine list -- including a number of older vintages. The night we visited, I thought the food was quite good -- in particular the heirloom tomato sampler (gazpacho, "grilled cheese", and salad), the chanterelle mushroom, and the seared scallops. We chose 1990 JJ Prum Wehlener Sonnenhaur Spatlese to start us off, and after striking out on a Giacosa Barolo (sold out) we settled on a 1993 Paul Pernot Volnay "Les Carelles". I found the Prum to be generally enjoyable and certainly drinkable, but oxidized to a point where I kept noticing it. The Pernot showed a few different faces -- interesting, but not especially compelling. The company was fabulous, and the food delicious, so the wines were not of great consequence -- but as luck would have it, the wine portion of our program was just beginning...

At a table directly behind us, there was a Chave Hermitage tasting in progress. One of the hosts was a friend of Mike and was kind enough to offer us tastes from the wines remaining in the decanters; thoughts of ordering dessert rapidly faded.

It was quite a lineup in that it featured many of the finest vintages from the past 25 years. There were a few Hermitage Blanc, but we made our small pours from exclusively the Hermitage Rouge bottlings. It was a relatively quick sampling and mine are "after the fact" impressions, but our discussion at the table was brisk and impassioned -- easy to recall.

JL Chave Hermitage Rouge --

1978 - This was the first '78 I have tried, so I have no idea if this is the "standard" showing, but this bottle certainly seemed mature. It was focused on tertiary elements, and showing minimal amounts of fruit. I have no problem with the absence of fruit flavors when the rest is an elegant assortment of earthy nuance and pleasant textures, but I'd be hard pressed to spend the substantial dollars ($600?) this commands. This particular bottle would lead me to believe the wine is in decline. Find this wine

1988 - Full of bacon, earth and funk -- this one has some rustic charm. It shows considerably more fruit than the '78, but it has an elegant feel, right up until it hits that tannic crunch at the close. I liked this one, but felt it would probably still benefit from more time in the cellar. Find this wine

1989 - Mike called this "near perfect" for him... as is usually the case, our impressions of Northern Rhones are startlingly similar -- I loved this wine. Its bouquet was long on flowers and intriguing earth tones, suave black fruit, and balanced wonderfully with taut structure and earthen and mineral complexity. This was my favorite of the bunch -- a pleasure to drink now, or easily held for another decade or more. Find this wine

1990 - This seemed almost "fancy" when compared to the understated elegance of the '89 -- more richness and ripeness to its juicy fruit -- more oak tones still to be worked into the package. It is a lovely, and very young Chave, but stylistically, I prefer the 1989. Find this wine

1995 - This is another vintage that seemed to hold greater ripeness than others, but even less evolved -- tight and tannic when we tried it, but still showing early signs of complexity. Find this wine

1996 - This too was showing its tannic bite -- not as ripe and spun earlier toward dirt, rock and mouth watering bacon. It showed more pepper in the finish than any of the others. A few more years would seem to be of benefit to the wine. Find this wine

1998 - This was remarkably similar to another bottle I've tried recently -- full of promise, but impressive right now. It had broad tannins, and a good jolt of acid. The fruit seems cool and dense, not as apparently ripe as the 95, and certainly less so than the '90. I really grooved on the big mineral laced finish. This has many years ahead of it. Find this wine

2001 - This seemed slightly clumsy and certainly astringent in comparison to the others, but it was obviously very young. The materials seem to be in place; let's give it a decade. Find this wine

2003 - I brought the glass to my nose, inhaled deeply, and then began to laugh out loud. I passed it to Mike, and he laughed too. It was as if a cruel joke had been played upon us, as it offered liqueur-like scents of intense blueberry, chocolate, butter, and lots of exotic spice. It followed suit in the mouth, offering thick, syrupy textures and a good bit of warmth in the finish. Could it be -- a Chave Rouge that I truly disliked? Find this wine

I have heard the praises of this wine sung far and wide -- big points, "best ever" -- yikes! If it said Sine Qua Non on the bottle, I could appreciate the notion, and certainly accept the concept. But this is JL Chave -- Hermitage -- my favorite wine!?! To these it bore no resemblance, and I see no reason to celebrate the occasion. The issue is what you want from the wine. If you are looking at a model of power, uber-fruit, sensual textures, exotic aromas, and you do not mind a little heat -- then there is no reason not to embrace this bottling. I'm sure many of those who taste it will love it, perhaps even finding it some sort of benchmark, but I want Hermitage in its highest form, and its not in this bottle.

Certainly I represent a perspective that not everyone else has to share, but I have sampled many older and younger Northern Rhones in the last decade... I know I have tasted young Chave at or near release from the 92 vintage forward, and this is like no other. A curiosity, or perhaps an aberrant joy to some, but certainly unlike any Chave or Hermitage I can ever recall. If handed a blind sample, I could imagine it being from "anywhere" -- the Northern Rhone and Hermitage being far from my first choices. Perhaps praise is due to Jean Louis for fashioning a globally appealing wine in a hot, difficult vintage, but in the end I disliked the wine less for what is and more for what it is not -- yeah, Hermitage. I am hard pressed to imagine its evolution being positive, but in this instance I'll look forward to being "proven wrong".

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