Friday, August 26, 2016

2015 Northern Rhone Vintage of the Century Only 150 Cases Made An Aromatic Kaleidoscope with Insane Fruit, Complexity and Balance Will Age for 15-18 Years But Drinking Now

Remy Nodin is a brilliant winemaker and shares many of the same traits as our other young. He is obsessed with his vines and meticulous in the vineyards. What differentiates him is the absolute seriousness and complexity of his wines.  It's almost impossible to find wines this complex at these price points but because he's new and not yet famous and I buy direct, these are incredible values.

Need I mention, that 2015 is shaping up to be a vintage of the century in the Northern Rhone.  The wines are perfect and will age wonderfully but there is also good quantity.  If you like Northern Rhone wines, you should stock up on 2015 there may not be another vintage like this in your lifetime.

Today I am thrilled to offer the greatest Cornas value ever, the 2015 Remy Nodin Cornas "Les Eygas" for as little as $31.99a bottle on a 4-pack.. He only made 150 cases which is up from the 80 he made in 2014. This is only the second vintage and I have no idea how Remy will top this wine. The wine is an insane value for what is in the bottle from this once in a lifetime vintage. The color, first of all is what strikes you. It is as compelling a color for a red wine as you will see. Dark, almost black with a slight dark red at the edges. Then the aromatic display starts. Herbs, dark cocoa, meat, dark berry fruit that is ultra vivid. Stones, minerals. Just the whole package. You want to keep smelling it for minutes but you don't because this is 2015 and no matter how great the nose is the palate is better as 15 has that uncanny juxtaposition between insane levels of ripe fruit allied with ridiculous freshness. It is the hallmark of the vintage. It is just to utterly compelling that once these land there will be no reason to drink anything else. (Maybe some of those 15 German wines heh)

This has all the deep black fruit you can possibly want and mouth coating ripe tannins with freshness that barely makes sense.  It is beautiful wine from a man who makes great red, white and sparking wine which is an accomplishment. So much tapenade, black olive and an amazing stony minerality on the nose develop after air. The Eygas needs a 2-3 hour decant now (and are better on the second day). A long finish that saturates and saturates and saturates with the promise of a good 15-18 years ahead of it. This is a no brainer at this price.

When I went to the Rhone not last March but the March before I tasted the 13s. This last March (2016) winemakers were so exited about the 15's that they showed me them first before the 14's. In all my years visiting wine regions that has never happened before. It was nuts. Usually these wines are not supposed to taste this great at this early stage. This was March 2016 and these grapes were picked in Sept/Oct. But, as Remy Nodin told me, he could have bottled them last March and sold out in a few weeks and he'd be happy and so would his clients. But as tempted as he was (he wasn't, don't get worried) he let them rest, even as I kept bugging him and now the time is here. I can start offering Remy's wines and most importantly I can start to offer my first wine from the big 3 of Cornas, Cote-Rotie and Hermitage.

2015 Remy Nodin Cornas "Les Eygas" - $33.99 ($127.96 4-pack) (LIMITED)

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