TN: 2000 N. Rhone

TN: 2000 St Joseph – Domaine des Remezieres (N.Rhone France)

One inch can, in the right circumstances, make all the difference. Don’t laugh, it’s true. In fact, I really should use the metric system but sometimes people understand you more quickly and easily if you talk in imperial measurements. How tall are you? In the UK we don’t readily rattle off metres and centimetres but feet and inches. Yes, I know, it is one of the ‘benefits’ of joining the European Single Market which the UK did in 1973. Distances are another interesting question. I always talk about miles, not kilometres. Strange, eh?

Now I am guessing you are probably thinking that this is a strange beginning to a tasting note. Well, let me explain. An inch of snow, or thereabouts, caused travel chaos to London and the rest of the UK two days ago. In London, both the Tube network and many bus routes ran reduced services, or simply gave up for a number of hours. How is it, I ask myself, that countries who get regular snowfalls every year can cope but we Brits struggle? Maybe part of the answer lies in the question, that we don’t have enough practice. And as we all know, practice makes perfect.

This evening’s journey home was less eventful than the last couple of days and, being a Friday, I thought it only appropriate to open a bottle of wine. Tonight’s theme was N.Rhone and there was a bottle I had been gifted that was supposed to be drinkable now, even thought it was only about 3 years old. I decided to give it a try.

Double decanted 30 minutes in advance, lots of sediment. This 12.5% mid cherry red wine had an earthy nose and showed some green pepper notes as well. The palate was medium bodied, lean and lacking stuffing. It’s a drinkable wine with noticeable acidity, decent length and a slightly dry finish. Given the lack of fruit, I would recommend drinking any remaining bottles sooner rather than later. 81/100.