Dinner with Pierre Perrin of Beaucastel

A great way to usher in the last month of a topsy-turvy year. Pierre Perrin conducted a really fun and very informative tasting session where we got to blend different varieties of 2009 Beaucastel grapes (Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah, Counoise and Cinsault). If the base vareital wines are anything to go by, 2009 will be a superb vintage. I found all the wines lithe, fresh, full of beautiful fruit purity and yet with no lack of concentration - a bit like 2001 maybe.

After dinner, the whole lot of us adjourned for dinner at Dragon Phoenix restaurant at Liang Court, where Emil kindly popped bottles from the Perrin & Fils range. The highlights of the dinner were the 1998 Beaucastel and the superb 2007 Hommage that followed. Yummy (but slightly too much!) food and good company made for a really fun night.

• 2007 Famille Perrin / Perrin & Fils Côtes du Rhône Blanc Réserve 88 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône

  Great QPR. This was a really pleasant blend of 50% Grenache Blanc, 20% Bourbullec, and 10% each of Marsanne, Rousanne and Viognier. Nice nose showed classic Southern Rhone scents of honeyed beeswax, flowery honeysuckle and a little earth. Palate was very decent too. A bit of peach, some yellow fruit and a measure of spice that helped it go really well with the Northern chinese spicy pork belly and pork trotter terrine appetisers that we had. Texture was rather rich and waxy, but I found the wine very nicely balanced and clean and fresh from attack to finish. It was a tad short, and rather simple, but at this price, this is about as good as it gets. Good start to the dinner.

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• 2008 Famille Perrin / Perrin & Fils Vinsobres Les Cornuds 89 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Vinsobres

  Simple, pleasant blend of 50% Syrah and 50% Grenache. Nose was a little tight, with some spice and earthy meatiness. Like most of the wines in the Perrin & Fils range, the palate was nicely fresh and balanced. There was some richness too, with, blackberries wrapped in gentle tannins, and a mid-length finish showing some brambly garrigue notes. I actually think this is actually a small step up from the 2005.

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• 2007 Famille Perrin / Perrin & Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape Les Sinards 90 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  A nice entry level CdP, lots of early drinking fun. Nose showed dark cherry fruit, earth, meaty notes, some iron scents and very CdP garrigue and lavender notes. Very attractive. Palate had rather classy cool dark fruit, all very clean and clear, with some licorice flavouring, peppery spice pepper and just that touch of rubber nad menthol at the back-end. Very decent weight here, with powdery tannins giving a sense of grip. Not a heavyweight, but an emminently drinkable wine, and one that went very well with food as well.

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• 2007 Famille Perrin / Perrin & Fils Gigondas La Gille 91 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Gigondas

  This was probably the best of the flight, beating out a rather good Perrin CdP from the same vintage. Nose was not exactly exuberant, but had nice notes of dark fruit and meat along with just a little hint of garrigue. I thought this wine had more depth than the fresh and lively, but it was not short of balance either, with nice acidity forming a frame for rich dark cherry and blackberry flavours underlined with some hot-stones. A bit more rustic than the CdP, this had some of the bramble-liness of Gigondas along with a bacon meat finish. Tannins were soft, but gave the wine a satifying chewiness. All in all, a really nice effrot, and one that will probably reward a couple more years in the bottle.

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• 1998 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 92 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Hmm... obviously good, but this bottle was in a rather deep and brooding mood. By far the most "dumb" showing of the last few bottles I had. Nose was a tightish, with subtle scents of sweet dark berries, a pinprick of bright cherries and then mostly earth, meat and little rings of smoke. Obviously plenty of depth, but all a bit deep, a bit tight. Palate started out that way too. Again, nice concentration and plenty of complexity, with nice flavours of dark cherries, licorice and hints of meatiness - all a bit under wraps though, like someone turned the volume way down. Still, this was nice and elegant, with lots of fresh acidity and a nice slightly metally minerality lacing through the dark flavours. Finish was nice and lengthy too, again showing nice concentration paired with good acidity, as it wound its way in a herb and bramble tail. Needs time this.

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• 2007 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin 96 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  A superb wine - way too young, but it gave plenty of pleasure for sure! 70% Mourvedre from that famed old plot, 10% each Syrah, Grenache and Counoise. Lovely nose had deep, rich layers of earth, meat, dark berries and melted cherries sprinkled with rather higher-toned herb scents of angelica root, boiled tree bark, and dried winter melon. Super deep and really complex, yet one got the sense that there was just so much more waiting to unfold. Same thing could be said about the palate too. Lovely, deep, layered, very rich, with depths of deep dark fruit and savoury meat, actually quite yummily friendly, but somehow still giving a clear sense that there was so, so much more going on beneath its velvety depths. As with most of the great wines I have had this year, it had a seamless focus, with an almost monolithic "togetherness" that made it hard to pick apart. Yet for all that, this always remained beautiful clear and pure in spite of all its presence and weight. Lovely balance held the whole package together, from the first sip into its brilliantly long finish, which was fresh, driving and powerful, pulling away with a whiff of smoke and black coffee grounds. A baby, but one so well put together that you have no doubt it will blossom into a beauty - this was certainly one of the best young CdPs I have ever had the pleasure of trying.

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