On Jun 16, 10:15Â*am, DaleW > wrote:
> On Jun 14, 3:57�pm, "Bi!!" > wrote:
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> > I threw a couple of espresso rubbed beef filets on the grill last
> > night along with braised collard greens from my garden (a little
> > bacon, garlic, red pepper flakes and chicken stock) and a cold new
> > potato and green bean salad. �I found a bottle of 2000 La Chapelle in
> > my vinotemp at my farm so I thought it should work....and it did. �The
> > wine was medium bodied, dark ruby in color and showing just a bit of
> > pink at the rim. �I gave it about 45 minutes in the decanter before
> > tasting....I got busy at the grill and I was deeply involved in a
> > glass of Avery Brewing Company Maharaja Imperial IPA that my son sent
> > me from Denver for fathers day. �In any case, the La Chapelle was
> > showing iron and stones on the nose with a bit of smokey bacon.
> > Nicely elegant on the palate with a red raspberry �and red currant
> > flavor followed by a bit of coffee, green herb and a nice high toned
> > acidity. �Not the huge monster that Hermitage can sometimes be but
> > well balanced Syrah. �B+ on the Dale Scale (a solid A for The Maharaja
> > IPA btw.)
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> Beer and wine sound good!
> The CW seems to be that Jaboulet's La Chapelle weakened in 90s, but
> started coming back in '99 & '00. Does that fit with your
> experiences?
> BTW, I love collard greens. I never had them growing up, even though
> I'm from the South.I think my mother (who grew up working poor, but
> strove mightily to make sure we were solidly middle class) regarded
> them as declass� preferring spinach and the like. I had to discover
> collards and chittlins on my own, though at least my parents
> introduced me to fried chicken, grits, etc.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

I think that la Chapelle did weaken a bit through the mid 90's but I
still enjoyed it and have a fair amount in my cellar. I prefer French
syrah to the monster syrah's from Oz and the wierd ones from
California. The balance and acidity give La Chapelle a better food
profile and I tend to match food with it based on the vintage. Big
vintages with big food, light er vintages with lighter food. I
recently served a 1997 La Chapelle with grilled rabbit and it worked
well.

I grew up in a very diverse neighborhood..now refered to as "the
'hood" so greens of all types, chitlin's with hot sauce, grits and
corn bread were common even in Ohio.