Côtes du Rhône vs. Cal-Rhone

Erik and I each purchased some 2004 Novy Family Wines 50% Grenache/50% Syrah ($20) from Judge Family Vineyard. When we opened a bottle after we picked up the order in March, the wine seemed very disjointed and highly acidic. The fruit was not showing at all, which is unusual for Novy or Siduri wine.

I recently received a bottle of the 2004 J.L. Chave Côtes du Rhône Mon Coeur ($16) from a friend. Since it is a 50%/50% Grenache/Syrah blend from the same vintage as the Novy, I wanted to retaste the Novy side-by-side with the Chave for a comparison of two similar Rhone blends.

In the end, there was no comparison. The Novy came alive after being open for 45 minutes and showed nice fruit and complexity, while the Chave had too much brett (horse smell) on the nose and no fruit. Bottom line, the Novy was much more interesting, while the Chave isn't for me.

Finally, I threw a 2004 CORE Grenache ($18) into the mix and it seemed only about the fruit when first opened. However, it gained complexity with three hours of air. A good daily drinking wine. Special thanks to Dave Corey for dropping off these and my other CORE wines last week!

For more details on the wines, see my Novy, Chave, and CORE tasting notes in CellarTracker!