2016 Jaboulet Crozes Hermitage Thalbert
The other day, I was scrolling through various wine offers from suppliers and jolted up straight in my chair when I came across this offer for a back vintage of Jaboulet. I remembered just how well 2016 sold on its release. Then, when I looked closer, I couldn’t believe the price was within $1 of what we sold it for originally.
That’s exciting! I knew I’d kept a couple bottles for myself and ferreted one out to check its progress. WOW!!
In no way is this wine “baked out” or overripe like so many of the recent releases from the Rhone. White pepper jumps out on the nose, followed by damp earth and garrigue. It also displays a wonderful leathery quality. The flavors are cool and extremely well balanced on a finish that shows complexity and character, especially for a wine at this level.
It's just about entered its ideal drinking window and probably continues along this path for the next 8-10 years. This is a tremendous bottle of wine for a no brainer price.
Don’t hesitate on this one. It will disappear!
“The 2016 Crozes Hermitage Domaine De Thalabert offers a rocking (and classic) bouquet of ripe black fruits intermixed with notions new saddle leather, pepper, garrigue, and hints of bacon fat. This ripe, medium to full-bodied, silky wine has remarkable purity, is already complex, and finishes with serious length. Drink it over the coming 10-15 years.” (December, 2018).
- Jeb Dunnuck, 94
“This shows pretty dark fruit along with cloves, dark berries and hints of black pepper. Medium to full body and a juicy finish.” (August, 2018)
- James Suckling, 92-93
“Bright violet. Highly perfumed, mineral-accented dark berries, cherry liqueur and candied violet on the nose. At once rich and energetic, offering juicy, focused black raspberry and cherry cola flavors along with a hint of smokiness. Turns sweeter on the lively, penetrating finish, which features sneaky tannins and a strong echo of smoky minerality.” (June, 2018)
- Vinous Media, (Josh Raynolds) 92-94
“The classically styled 2016 Crozes Hermitage Domaine de Thalabert boasts savory scents of black olive and leather. Medium to full-bodied, it's plummy and rich, creamy and ripe but savory and earthy, not jammy at all, with a lingering, velvety-textured finish. It drinks well now, but it should continue to evolve and drink well through 2035.” (October, 2018)
- Wine Advocate, (Joe Czerwinski) 93
