Robert Michel, Cornas, Geynale

The nose itself has some tension, with black licorice giving way to some stewed black fruits in the mouth with some tannin that is still slightly chalky. Finally it reveals a bit of jammy dark fruit. A bit perplexing, changing.

The 1989 La Geynale from Robert Michel is a lovely mature wine, offering up aromas of plums and raspberries mingled with hints of tapenade, subtle spices and underbrush that carry a strong site and producer signature. Medium to full-bodied, it's a vibrant, lively wine with an attractive core of fruit and chewy, somewhat rustic but melting tannins. I liked it a lot; but it's far from the level of Clape, to say nothing of Verset, in this banner vintage.

Rhone Commanderie dinner (Little Park) : One of my favorites of the night. I just really enjoy these old Rhone wines. It's again nicely integrated. There's a certain lightness that seems to come with some years with the Syrah which I appreciate. Still with more darkness and brooding style, but of course the structure (which seems like the right balance of tannin and acid and all of that). Prob starting to end towards end of life here, but in a …

Corked.

A weekend in East Sussex (UK) : On it's way down IMHO - and not nearly as good as I remember it from 10 years ago at Per Se in NYC. Today it is showing only nicely with some aging sweetness, some sous bois and a decent balance, but lacking the Cornas-wow - and ending very dry indeed. Drink up. PB brought this.

I thought this was in surprising good shape considering the recent rumblings about the wine. I thought there was some solid balance, although the tannins were definitely still noticeable. I liked this quite a bit and thought it showed well.

Decanted for 2 hours. I liked the lower alcohol level which added some elegance to the palate. Hints of pepper and spice, but the wine seemed a bit tired.

NY/NJ Offline at Beacon 7.23.12 (Beacon, NYC) : Notes of olive, leather, blueberry and peach on th nose. Similar on the palate. Medium body with high acidity and high fine-grained tannin.

Tastes like generic old red wine. Every now and then there's a suggestion of something meatier or forestal beyond faded red fruit, but there's nothing of interest here. A shame considering just how good recent bottles of the '90 have been.

A little simple, the last glass was the best so this wine might just needs more time. Nice fruit showing some evolution. Low acidity without being over ripe and heavy. A hint of violet. But the last glass was showing more depth, aromatics and complexity. So overall a little disappointing experience.

Very nice, if not earth-shattering. Has some pleasant secondary notes. More on the delicate side of Cornas.

Rather disappointing considering the apparent pedigree of this site (an old vine parcel in Reynard). It's a bit anonymous at first, showing mature red fruits and olives with some earthy overtones; with time it starts to come around and show some more leathery and meaty funk, though it's still a bit thin in the mouth and not showing a great deal of complexity.

Same bottle as dzop, and my impressions match his. Totally unlike the 90, such that it's hard to believe they came from the same producer. Ripe, black-fruited, full-bodied, with a touch of plush tannin, whereas as the 90 was red-fruited, had a strong olive note, was lithe and silky, and had a lovely minerality. With air this got mustier and mustier, indicating the TCA.