Chartreuse
Yellow Label (Distilled 1935)

BY NEAL MARTIN |&nbsp;AUGUST 14, 2023Spirits
are big business these days. We are not talking bottles you buy off supermarket
shelves, but ancient bottles that might be covered in thick dust in rural
bistros or perhaps lying in your grandparents’ drinks cabinet. Demand has risen
exponentially as more and more connoisseurs have a newfound appreciation of
their quality and rarity. Basically, the hunt is on. Cognac and Armagnac have
always been coveted, even if they fell out of fashion in the Nineties. At
present, there is a huge demand for Scottish single malts, with Macallan the
Domaine de la Romanée Conti of the whisky world. In addition, ancient bottles
of Chartreuse are now highly sought after. You can buy Yellow or Green label
Chartreuse to this day that is not that expensive. Tempting as these are to
drink young, you can scurry a few bottles away because they improve with time
as the alcohol gradually eats the sugar.

If you
cannot wait a few decades, then go and find an aged bottle from a merchant or
at auction. The uninitiated will be astonished by hammer prices that can almost
make Burgundy look cheap. In fact, when I was lucky enough to taste a bottle of
Yellow Label Chartreuse bottled in the Forties, it was part of a forthcoming
single cellar auction of rare spirits at Christie’s with an estimated hammer
price of £2,000. My hunch is that it will surpass that.

Perhaps
just a brief background on Chartreuse because it is an amazing story that
almost reads like an Indiana Jones movie.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1691701414927-Chartreuse+Yellow+label+%281%29.JPG">The
origins date from 1605, when the Carthusian monks, based at their monastery
near Paris, received an ancient manuscript by François Hannibal d’Estrées,
marshal of the French King Henri IV’s artillery, that purportedly gave the
ingredients of “Elixir of Long Life”. The manuscript found its way to La Grande
Chartreuse monastery high up in the Chartreuse mountains in Grenoble, where “apothecarist”
Brother Gérome Maubec set about decoding the text. He died before completing
the task, so the job was finished by Brother Antoine in 1737. Apparently, the
recipe contained 130 herbs and spices and a base of 71% alcohol. The mercantile
Carthusian monks became distillers and produced a Green Chartreuse at 55%
alcohol and, from 1838, added a milder Yellow Chartreuse at 40%. Its popularity
stems from 30 military officers who tasted the Chartreuse and, perhaps carried
away by its life-enhancing properties, proselytized Chartreuse to such success
that it became highly demanded across the continent. All this time, the monks
never gave a hint about the recipe. 

In
1904, the French government, itching to profit from the sales, nationalized the
monastery and distillery. The expelled monks were having none of that and
sought refuge in Tarragona, Spain, where they constructed a new distillery. Back
in France, chemists and botanists tried to fathom out the recipe. They failed,
and the government’s own “mock” Chartreuse merely heightened demand for the
real thing, especially after those wily monks prevented its exportation since
they owned the foreign trademark. In 1929, local entrepreneurs bought the
bankrupt company and returned the distillery to the Carthusian monks. It was
destroyed in a mudslide in 1935, so the government constructed a new facility
near Voiron, only lifting the expulsion orders against the monks after the war.
Chartreuse continued to be distilled from Tarragona until the 1980s. In 2017,
it moved from Voiron to Aiguenoire. What is truly amazing is that only two
monks know part of the recipe, distillation process and aging in cask. The
mixology craze in the 2000s saw a resurgence in the popularity of Chartreuse.
In 2019, the Carthusian monks limited production to 1.6 million bottles per
year due to concerns about its environmental impact and the need for more time
to meditate.&nbsp;

So, how
did this 70 or 80-year-old Yellow Label Chartreuse taste? All we know is that
it was distilled in 1935 and bottled at some point in the 1940s. Incidentally,
this bottle had been opened a couple of months earlier, and according to our
host, it tasted better as the weeks rolled past. There is no question that
there is a tangible difference between modern-day Chartreuse and old bottles.
Almost clear in color but with thick tears in the glass, the nose is heavenly. Star
anise, wild fennel, rosemary and eucalyptus scents are exquisitely defined,
alcoholic for sure but not spirituous. The palate, for me, feels slightly more
viscous than young Yellow Label Chartreuse, weightier in the mouth and perfectly
balanced with oregano and rosemary hints. It reminds me Calpol, the children’s
medicine. What is striking is this Chartreuse's smoothness, the mellowness,
appealing even to someone without a penchant for spirits like myself. There is
something magical about drinking a spirit freighted with such history and
enigma, but it does taste extraordinary. 98/Drink 2023-2123.© 2023, Vinous. No portion of this article may be copied, shared or re-distributed without prior consent from Vinous. Doing so is not only a violation of our copyright, but also threatens the survival of independent wine criticism.

Content

Engage

Vinous

Social