#401 Pairing 3 - Goldie Hawn & La Chapelle

I recently watched a movie starring Goldie Hawn and Burt Reynolds from the early 1980s.  It was terrible.  This movie was supposed to be a romantic comedy starring two of the biggest box office stars of the time and it had the recipe to be great.  But it sucked.  Reynolds was a damp squib, not the man's man that he made his name playing in films like Smokey & The Bandit and Cannonball Run, and the kookie Goldie Hawn character that made the world fall in love with her was replaced by a ballsy, cold hearted character that feared commitment.

It got me thinking about typecasting.  Hugh Grant is the master of the bimbling, well meaning upper-middle class Brit, and if that is the character you have in your movie, you get Grant to play it.  If you need an evil bad guy with a slight psychopathic bent to him, you get Alan Rickman, and in the early eighties, if you want a kookie, girl next door, you hired Goldie Hawn.  Similarly, if you need that character now, you hire her daughter, Kate Hudson, who has taken up that mantle.

Many people have typecast Paul Jaboulet Aine as a Rhone producer that has lost its way in recent years before being bought by the owners of Chateau La Lagune, who have rejuvenated this old house.  But I got to try two older wines from Jaboulet, from when it was firmly in control of the family, and it reminded me that at one time, the Jaboulet family once produced some of the greatest wines from the Rhone, and that their later typecasting as a farcical producer forgets its serious and talented former self.

1994 Paul Jaboulet Aine Hermitage La Chapelle
A rounded nose, lots of full, dark fruit and with a softer, meatier note.  It is very gentle and elegant, but you feel that this wine is a bit soft, a tiny bit rough around the edge.  The palate has a bit of spice up front, with some lovely dark berries and then some leather and dusty spice coming through.  The finish is long, wonderfully clean and balanced, but like the nose is lacking something.  It really sums up the vintage though.  1994 could have been one of the greats, but rains spoiled the chances of that and left you feeling it could have been better.  90pts

1972 Paul Jaboulet Aine Hermitage La Chapelle
Sweet chocolate on the nose, lovely juicy fruit with a little mint coming out of the glass.  A very pretty aroma.  The palate is super - beautiful, simple and elegant, a touch of spice and some slight earthy flavours coming through.  Black pepper comes out on the finish, with a smoky element that I really like.  A beautiful wine displaying the nudge towards a Burgundian style that I expect from old Rhone.  Gorgeous. 97pts

These two wines remind me of the kookie actresses.  The younger version is great, does everything that you want and does it well, but you won't remember the moment you first experienced it.  The older version though, despite its age, still entertains you to a higher level than it's younger self ever will.