Domaine Jean Louis Chave, Saint-Joseph, Clos Florentin

Northern Rhone Blind Tasting (Atlanta, GA) : Tasted double blind. Deep purplish color, a jammy, plumy, juicy massive wine with detectable alcohol, and a long fruit extracted finish. Not my style.

Sisters wedding anniversary supper. Directly after a Chave Hermitage so it was really fun to compare both. The Florentin was more bloody, higher acidity and a little more spice and minerality than the Hermitage. Also the oak was less integrated than the Hermitage. Medium ruby red. Nose of pink peppercorn, smoked meats, blackberries, cassis, thyme, and a lot of oak. On the palate, black cherries, blackberries, blueberries, thyme, rosemary, pepper, cinnamon, cloves and vanilla. Finish was long and there was …

Explosion de fruits rouges, très belle matière, belle longueur. Acidité un peu marquée, devrait s’arrondir dans quelques années.

Fruit forward without being too dense or strong.

I was a little caught off guard with the ABV, which is quite high at 14.5% and leads to a little more ripeness and richness I would normally look for in Northern Rhone. Dark blackcurrant on the nose and full bodied with an exceptionally long finish and lush tannins. Surprisingly high acidity keeps the wine much fresher than one would expect. For such a “humble” appellation, this really shows what is possible in this region in the hands of excellent …

Great balance on fruit , nose, great tartness , medium body

1st time with Chave. I get it. I get it now. The fruit. Just wow. Hugely memorable.

Dark rich, round, plummy, and smoky, with a wall of black, blue, and ripe, dark black cherries and plums. This is a steal for a wine of this quality and character. It is primary and fruity now, but I love it and it will only get better from here. Drink from 2023-2040.

After double decanting this is showing wonderfully, with notes of dark plum, blackcurrent, cacao, olive and a slight smokiness on the nose. The palate was full bodied showing dark rich fruit, bitter chocolate and spice that filled the palate along with firm tannins. The mid-palate showed wonderful complexity, structure and depth. The finish lingered. This will just improve and I would love to re-visit this wine in 10 years. 94-95

black purple color, intense blackberry and plums on the nose with a sharp scent of new leather, cola, on the palate quite big and primary, fine breadth, long finish, but overall this wine is very excessive for me- it is extremely ripe and with a really massive scale that impresses at a superficial level- but leaves almost no detail behind to demonstrate what should be coming after a few years in the cellar, this should mellow with time although it …