The La Tablée tasting was held in New York City on November 19 of last year and featured the wines of the Rhone Valley of France.
The term La Tablée denotes the meal celebrating the end of harvest, similar to Burgundy’s La Paulée and not surprisingly, the folks who ran this event also run the New York La Paulée event.
The Rhone is divided into the Northern Rhone and the Southern Rhone. In the north, Syrah is the primary grape used. Those wines are wines that California wine drinkers would love since they tend to be beefy wines with notes of roast meat and bacon on the nose.
In southern Rhone they are legally able to use up to thirteen varietals with Grenache, Mourvèdre, Cinsault and Syrah doing the bulk of the work for the red wines. At this tasting I tried Chateauneuf du Pape that were 100% Grenache.
The tasting was held at City Winery located at 25 11th Avenue at Pier 57 overlooking the East River on the west side of Manhattan. With large picture windows overlooking the river, there was plenty of natural light in the room. The venue didn’t get overcrowded that afternoon but that was probably due to the price of the ticket than the perceived quality of the wines.
Many of the reds poured were from the 2019 vintage which received a very good score from the wine writers.
Some of the highlights:
Southern Rhone
2019 Domaine Giraud Chateauneuf du Pape “Tradition”: Clear light purple, red fruit with some earth on the nose, juicy and spicy with a nice balance.
2019 Domaine Roger Sabon Chateauneuf du Pape “Prestige”: Opaque dark purple, chalk and crusted stone on the nose with juicy black fruit and notes of green herbs, nice balance.
2019 Domaine de Cristia Chateauneuf du Pape “Vieilles Vignes”: Clear medium red, crushed rocks on the nose, juicy, chunky dark chocolate fruit, good balance at the end.
2020 Domaine de la Janasse Chateauneuf du Pape “Chaupin”: Clear medium purple, toasted bread and crushed red fruit on the nose, silky, spice red fruit, great balance.
2019 Domaine du Pegau Chateauneuf du Pape “Cuvee Reservee”: Clear medium red, spicy tar on the nose, silky, tarry and spicy fruit ending with firm tannins.
2012 Domaine du Pegau Chateauneuf du Pape “Cuvee Laurence” ed jeroboam: Clear medium brick, pretty perfume of bacon and earth, silky, earth fruit, balanced with some bitter cherry on the long finish.
2019 Domaine de la Monardiere Vacqueyras “Vieilles Vignes: Opaque medium purple, ripe red fruit on the nose, chewy, silky, ending with firm tannins.
2019 Chateau de Beaucastel Gigondas “Clos des Tourelles”: Clear medium red, cigarette smoke on the nose, juicy red fruit, nice balance.
Northern Rhone
2019 E. Guigal Cote-Rotie “Brune et Blonde”: Clear medium red, gun metal and roast pork on the nose, sweet fruit of milk chocolate ending with a great balance.
2011 Jean Michel Gerin Cote-Rotie “Les Grand Places” en magnum: Cloudy medium red, sweet, minty nose, moderate fruit of leather, drops a bit but drinking nicely.
2019 Jean Michel Gerin Cote-Rotie “La Vialliere”: Clear medium purple, damp earth on the nose, tasty, silky black fruit, geat balance.
2019 Domaine Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage ‘La Guiraude”: Opaque medium red, smoky roast meat on the nose with tart, purple fruit.
2020 Cave Julien Cecillon Saint-Joseph “Babylone”: Opaque dark red, red leather on the nose, dark, earthy fruit, great balance.
2020 Cave Yves Cuilleron Saint-Joseph “Serines”: Clear medium purple, toasted notes on the nose with chewy leather notes on the fruit, nice balance.