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.)

On Jun 14, 3:57�pm, "Bi!!" > wrote:
> 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.)

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.

On Jun 16, 10:15Â*am, DaleW > wrote:
> On Jun 14, 3:57�pm, "Bi!!" > wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > 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.)
>
> 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.

Bi!! wrote:

> 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.

Bill,
I understand what you're saying about La Chapelle, but for the prices
they've been asking for the past decade+ I do expect more than just a
decent food wine. Granted, I don't buy much Hermitage any more from any
source, but from a QPR perspective, La Chapelle has underperformed IMO
since the early '90s.

Mark Lipton
(Hanging on to his few remaining Chaves and scanning the horizons for
quality St. Joseph and Collines Rhodaniennes producers)


--
alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com

On Jun 16, 10:16�pm, Mark Lipton > wrote:
> Bi!! wrote:
> > 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.
>
> Bill,
> � I understand what you're saying about La Chapelle, but for the prices
> they've been asking for the past decade+ I do expect more than just a
> decent food wine. �Granted, I don't buy much Hermitage any more from any
> source, but from a QPR perspective, La Chapelle has underperformed IMO
> since the early '90s.
>
> Mark Lipton
> (Hanging on to his few remaining Chaves and scanning the horizons for
> quality St. Joseph and Collines Rhodaniennes producers)
>
> --
> alt.food.wine FAQ: �http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com

I'm not sure I would classify it a merely a decent food wine but a
quick check of Parker and WS show average scores in the low 90's
respectively if you don't average in the 100 pointer in 1990 for the
time periosd in question. You can't discount the effect that the
scores have on the eventual price of the wine regardless of how you
feel about Parker or WS. I always bought the wines on release and
except for the 1990 never felt that I overpaid for the wine at the
time so I don't feel the QPR effect as much as someone buying the
wines in the secondary market might. A quick check of prices on wine
searcher shows average prices in the $100-$150 range for wines from
that time period so they have maintained a fairly high price point
over the years. In any event, price and points aside, I always
enjoyed the wine with or without food.