1998 Hermitage Rouge, Domaine Bernard Chave
Very deep, mature red color, but served blind I'd have thought it much younger than 27 years old. Intense classic Northern Rhone syrah aromas followed through by concentrated syrah flavors. Long finish. The tannins are fully resolved, but there is a bit of an acidic edge there. Not in the same class as J-L Chave, but a fine Hermitage in its own right. Given where it's been (see below) I'm not sure where this wine is going--does the acidity mean it's passing its peak or does it mean it is not yet at full maturity? Whichever, it's very enjoyable now. Double Curly Moe.
I first tasted this wine from cask while on a wine tasting trip up the Rhone valley. I'd heard of the estate but never encountered their wines in the US. In addition to the 1998 Hermitage from cask we tasted the Crozes-Hermitage from cask and a couple of his recent releases. The wines from bottle all had an odd character that reminded me of the hay infusions I worked with in Biology. The wines in cask were clean and excellent examples of their appellation, so the wine merchant I was with decided to import them. When they arrived we were dismayed that in bottle they had that hay infusion character. My guess is that Bernard Chave filters his wines through straw or something like that. I had bought six bottles each of the Hermitage and the Crozes and I left them untouched in my cellar. Ten years later I opened one of the Crozes. The straw/hay infusion character had completely disappeared and the wine was all I would have hoped for, based on the cask tasting. Ditto with the Hermitage. So apparently Bernard Chave is making wines for the long haul. I think this explains why I'd never seen his wines before in the US. They decidedly don't show well when young and that presents potential importers with a marketing problem.
-Paul W.
