2005 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Crozes-Hermitage Domaine de Thalabert

Far better is the tart but more substantially flavored and textured 2005 Crozes-Hermitage Domaine de Thalabert. This wine has a dark ruby/purple color and a good, sweet nose of black currants and cherries intermixed with some herbs, underbrush, and spice. The wine is medium-bodied with zesty, crisp acidity, an expressive mouthfeel, and a moderately long finish. It should drink well for 5-8 years. I fully expect quality will dramatically soar at Jaboulet (just as it has at Chateau La Lagune in Bordeaux) and that these transitional vintages, particularly the mediocre 2004s which were not made by the new owners, and the good but hardly inspiring 2005s, will be lost memories when the new ownership team has the next fine vintage in the northern Rhone. As I reported last year, everything is in transition at Paul Jaboulet-Aine. This old family firm, founded in the early 1800s, was sold to the Frey family, who are major investors in the Billecart-Salmon Champagne house and proprietors of the well-known Chateau La Lagune in the southern Medoc. The entire winemaking operation is undergoing massive changes as the Jaboulet wines have had a lackluster as well as irregular track record after the death of Gerard Jaboulet in 1997. Importer: Frederick Wildman, New York, NY; tel. (212) 355-0700

Inky ruby. Explosively aromatic nose offers sexy oak spice-laced dark berry and black cherry, complicated by cured tobacco and violet oil. Very youthful but awfully sweet, with deep, almost liqueur-like blackcurrant and blueberry flavors and supple, molten tannins. A lush, highly attractive Thalabert in the making, with impressive depth and excellent length.

Far better is the tart but more substantially flavored and textured 2005 Crozes-Hermitage Domaine de Thalabert. This wine has a dark ruby/purple color and a good, sweet nose of black currants and cherries intermixed with some herbs, underbrush, and spice. The wine is medium-bodied with zesty, crisp acidity, an expressive mouthfeel, and a moderately long finish. It should drink well for 5-8 years. ||I fully expect quality will dramatically soar at Jaboulet (just as it has at Chateau La Lagune in Bordeaux) and that these transitional vintages, particularly the mediocre 2004s which were not made by the new owners, and the good but hardly inspiring 2005s, will be lost memories when the new ownership team has the next fine vintage in the northern Rhone.||As I reported last year, everything is in transition at Paul Jaboulet-Aine. This old family firm, founded in the early 1800s, was sold to the Frey family, who are major investors in the Billecart-Salmon Champagne house and proprietors of the well-known Chateau La Lagune in the southern Medoc. The entire winemaking operation is undergoing massive changes as the Jaboulet wines have had a lackluster as well as irregular track record after the death of Gerard Jaboulet in 1997. Wine Advocate.April, 2007