Alain Graillot, Crozes-Hermitage, Guiraude

Good Wine with Good Pork Shoulder with Bad Football (Pagoria Place - Chicago IL) : Charming spiced nose with plenty of mature black fruits and forest floor, but this fails to deliver any remotely similar or interesting flavors, instead falls flat. Others liked this more.

1990 vintage

Drunk at Brat with Jack and Will; similar to last note, excellent ****+

1990 vintage

Some evolution in terms of colour, but still rather dark core. Musty nose, dark pepper, bacon, smoky, charred wood. On the palate good fruit still, spicy, smoky, nice length, slightly drying finish. With more time in the glass less balanced, acidity sticking out more and more. Drink up. 89-91

1990 vintage

Served alongside a 90 Thalabert on Christmas Day. Vibrant enough fruit but the profile is really all about the rich BBQed meat notes - the acidity keeps this in balance and means it is very attractive. Marginal preference for this over the Thalabert particularly with more air. ****+

1990 vintage

Library Tasting with Geoff Kelly - 1990s - in memory of Ken Kirkpatrick (Regional Wines and Spirits, Wellington, New Zealand) : Ruby rust colour. Savory, layered and complex nose, but also suggesting a wine in decline. The palate is tart and slightly sour. The acids don't feel integrated. Typical Northern Rhone syrah varietal expression but the acids and sour finish detract from a wine that was superb in its youth, but is now clearly in decline.

1990 vintage

Decanted for 2 hours at Rebelle NY: very funky (in the way undereducated consumers might well send back), with underlying notes of mushroom and bacon fat, but thin on the palate, with no firm fruit ever emerging. Hurry up if you have any...

1990 vintage

Brown tawny colour. Liquorice. , still youthful.

1990 vintage

Garnet color, cloudy. Sweet aroma, a little brown sugar, garrigue, leather, cherry, dust. On arrival, low intensity fruit pointed up a bit with acid; not bad at all. Develops quickly in the mouth, more sweet-sour, oxidized fruit but in a good way. Finish is short.This bottle showed well for 45 minutes, then plummeted suddenly into a too tangy funk. Young vine fruit even done well only goes so far. Bottle #12 of 12.

1990 vintage

Light red tends to brown with amber rim. Great leather smoky spicy Brett aroma that dissipates quickly within few min. Over the peak, oxidized, flat, low tannins, not easy to enjoy any more.

1990 vintage

Cloudy and browning a bit, this wine surprisingly offered just barely enjoyable, quiet aromas of tomatoes, cherry and rhubarb. Watery and without concentration, the flavors are area-indistinct and not recognizable of this producer's typical efforts for the bottling. It's the first disappointing bottle of the case, and #11 of 12. Drink up.

1990 vintage

Sensational. Smoky bacon, barnyard funk and leather on the nose. Rich, smooth palate of smoked meats and tart friut on the back palate. Gloriously complex. Wonderful wine.

1990 vintage

Too old, oxidized, still drinkable, but not anywhere near what I read here below.....

1990 vintage

Incredible stuff which made me kick myself I've never bothered to cellar a Graillot. You'd be hard-pressed to find a more characteristic example of Northern Rhone syrah, this just oozes with all the textbook cliches beginning with its intense smoked-meat character. With its bottle age, you don't get any radio interference from tannin or anything else, so the texture is suave and all the other stuff is emphatic and crystal clear.

1990 vintage

Apiary w/Marty, Keith and Suzanne (NYC) : My last bottle. Shows none of the mesquite/bbq on the palate like the bottle I brought to James and Nancy's last autumn. This bottle shows menthol on the nose, along with plenty of Northern Rhone details like grilled meat and pepper. On the palate: salted meat and black pepper, the essence of Syrah, just lovely. While it's fully resolved, there is a textural aspect of a dusty, pebbly country road. The palate here …

1990 vintage

Always a complete wine since 1st bottle in '97; would out class other Crozes from '90 and more than one Hermitage; complex nose of soft cheese, beef and pepper, rich dark syrah fruit even at 19 yrs, perfectly balanced. Won't forget this one.

1990 vintage

light red color, beautiful Syrah nose, herbs and leather, (not unlike even JL. Chave),the nose is really impressive; on the palate the wine tastes light in alcohol, what a difference with today's Aussies...; elegant but it is definitely going downhill; I decanted the wine immediately prior to dinner because of the heavy sediment; after about an hour the wine became skinnier (on the palate); (at the time made from younger vines?). still beautiful example of Syrah but dont hold on …

1990 vintage

This bottle not on par with last - a bit pinched and bitter, though with a classic older N. Rhone profile. Good w/ duck dinner.

1990 vintage

Beautifully aged Rhone syrah, different versions of leather - saddle leather, old Connolly hide, etc... In no way dried out, with aged Syrah fruit still there. Just slightly monolithic. Not super structured. This is drinking great right now, but I doubt it's getting better...seems like it's perhaps on the edge of decline...it became slightly less focused with air.

1990 vintage

The Graillot is not ready yet. Very deep and dense, it feels more like an Hermitage than just a Crozes. It still needs some time for the acid to marry into the texture a bit more. The wine is complex, but really needs more time to show of its best.

1990 vintage

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Alain Graillot, Crozes-Hermitage, Guiraude

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