Jaboulet Crozes Hermitage Domaine de Thalabert 2009
-
Robert
Parker -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine
Spectator
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The greatest Crozes-Hermitage Domaine de Thalabert since the magnificent 1990 is the 2009. Jaboulet has nearly 100 acres in this appellation, and the 2009, which is bursting with potential, represents a great buy for Syrah lovers. Its dense purple color is followed by an explosive bouquet of blackberries, sweet cherries, licorice, Provencal olives, graphite and subtle smoke. Full-bodied with silky tannins as well as a terrific mouthfeel and palate penetration, this gorgeous offering should drink well for 15 or more years.
-
Jeb Dunnuck
Absolutely brilliant and a shockingly good Crozes-Hermitage, the 2009 Domaine de Thalabert is 100% Syrah, from vines averaging 40-60 years in age, that was aged in oak casks for 12 months. Boasting a dense, opaque purple color, as well as decadent aromas of crème de cassis, smoked blackberries, spice cabinet, and hints of classy oak, this blockbuster Syrah is full-bodied, perfectly balanced, and displays, a light, fresh texture that keeps you pouring another glass. While superb now, it should be even better with 2-3 years of bottle age, and drink well for a decade after that.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Despite this wine's thick veneer of toasty, vanilla-scented oak, it has plenty of underlying fruit, powerful enough to handle the wood. It’s full bodied, dense and richly textured, with a long, velvety finish redolent of blackberries and cedar. Approachable now, but should easily age through 2025.
Cellar Selection -
Wine Spectator
Ripe and fleshy, with a velvety feel that allows plum sauce, mocha, cocoa powder and crushed blackberry fruit flavors to all meld and glide along. Dense, but supple through the finish and approachable now.
Other Vintages
2019-
Robert
Parker -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
James
Suckling -
Wine
Spectator
-
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling
-
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling
-
Jeb
Dunnuck -
James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker
-
Jeb
Dunnuck -
James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker
-
Robert
Parker
-
Robert
Parker
-
Robert
Parker
Paul Jaboulet Aîné has been a trend-setting grower and shipper in the Rhône since 1834. The Jaboulet company was founded by Antoine Jaboulet, and his twin sons, Paul and Henri continued to expand the family business. The elder son ("aîné" in French), Paul, established the company in its present form and gave it his own name. Since then, the company has been run by successive generations of sons from that side of the Jaboulet family.
The House of Paul Jaboulet Aîné is one of the Rhône’s most recognizable wineries. The reputation of Jaboulet wines rests on the quality of the well-situated and well-tended vineyards, on low yields, careful vinification, and diligent aging in oak casks. The Jaboulet family prefers carefully integrated oak aging, in which the influence of wood is never allowed to become excessive. Since this is an important point, they have their own cooper who makes and maintains their stock of barrels.
Jaboulet wines symbolize robustness and elegance, essential qualities of great wines. Their crown jewel is their Hermitage "La Chapelle" which Clive Coates states "is one of the great red wines of the world." Thomas Matthews of Wine Spectator has singled out Jaboulet as a producer which "offers reliable wines across the entire range of appellations (in the northern and southern Rhône)."
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Crozes-Hermitage is Northern Rhone’s largest appellation, surrounding the steep granite faces of Hermitage to its north and south. Here the rolling vineyards are less extreme and its soils, rich in clay-limestone and alluvial matter, produce Syrahs that range from fruity and charming to lush and seductive. The Syrahs of Crozes-Hermitage have more mass than those from St. Joseph but are less intense than those from Hermitage. While many are intended for early consumption, some of the best Syrahs from Crozes-Hermitage will age beautifully for 5-10 years.
Up to 15% of white grapes may theoretically be added to red Crozes at the time of fermentation but whether this is done or not depends on the decision of the winemaker. The best Crozes-Hermitage Syrahs will be fleshy with black fruit (currant, blackberry and black cherry) and bay leaf qualities, notes of tar and stone, and a well-concentrated finish of smooth tannins.
About a tenth of the wine produced in Crozes-Hermitage is white, primarily composed of Marsanne supplemented by smaller amounts of Roussanne.