Clos des Papes Shootout

Clos des Papes is clearly a winery on a roll with highly acclaimed vintages from 2003-2005, Wine Spectator wine of the year for 2005 etc. However, if there is one wine that has proven to be a lightning rod it is the 2003. I had originally tasted the 2003 right on release, 7 times with 6 from half bottles. At the time I swooned over the wine. Subsequently there have been reports of more and more folks with unusual experiences with the wine ranging from "thin and dilute" to "pruney and overripe." A recent thread on the eRobertParker bulletin board prompted me to crack open my two cases of the 2003 to see if I could shed any light on the controversy.

Along with a few locals we assembled a lineup comprised of the 2001, 2004, 2005 and the 2003 from three different lot numbers. (We also had a fourth bottle of 2003, from the same batch of 375ml I had purchased on release, but we didn't open that in the end.)

• NV G. H. Mumm & Cie Champagne Mumm de Cramant

  France, Champagne

  L32406011541: We slurped this down before the Clos des Papes shootout. Almost no nose to speak of. Fresh and refreshing on the palate although a touch watery and nondescript, faint notions of apple juice. Enjoyable enough but not really showing Grand Cru intensity.

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Myself (Eric LeVine), Adam Noble, Jeff Fisher and Sean Moore assembled to taste these wines single blind. Kris Patten and Justin Wells were last minute scratches, although Kris was generous enough to drop off his 2004. (He also has all of the leftovers and hopefully will sample and post his impressions.) A few notes on procedure. I recorded the lot number from the capsules on the front label of each bottle. I then removed the capsules and uncorked. For the three bottles of 2003 I also recorded the lot numbers on each cork once removed in case there was any controversy (which ended up being fortuitous). Then I placed each bottle into identical brown bag and shuffled the order. Then a separate taster entered the room, further moved around the bagged bottles and wrote the numbers 1 through 6 on the bags respectively. No wines were decanted. All were popped and poured at cellar (55 degrees) temperature.

For about 45 minutes we all tasted quietly, each taking our own notes. At around the one hour mark we talked about the wines a bit. Then we went through and recorded from each taster their guesses on which three wines were the 2003. (Three of four guessed wines 1, 3 and 5 with the fourth taster guessing 2, 3, and 5. The fourth taster is a self-avowed critic of 2003 CNDP who has tasted 2003 Clos des Papes six times before. His guesses at the 2003's in fact were one of the 2003's along with the 2004 and 2005.)

We finally unveiled and discussed the wines some more before convening.

• 2005 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape 93 Points

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

  Open up with notes of prune, faint spice, and a green, slightly stemmy edge that comes out and takes on some pickle barrel personality. With air this picks up weight and gets much more raspberry jam on the nose, spicecake, never quite shedding the green element but integrating it in a pleasing way. At very first sip this is a nice, medium weight wine that seems a little hollow in the mid palate, but an hour in the glass did wonders for this as this REALLY picks up a ton of weight and vibrancy. Mmm, this is a big, chunky Grenache with nice notes of white pepper, fat yummy and delicious. A really solid finish with good structure and a faint alcoholic burn which integrated over time. Reading my notes the next day this sounds like what I would expect from a 2005, although I had guessed it as a 2003 (as did 3 of 4 tasters). NOTE: I had received this wine just a few hours before the tasting after ground shipment from California, so we didn't do it any huge favors by immediately tossing it into a tasting. I suspect with a little time and rest that it is better than I scored it.

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• 2004 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape 94 Points

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

  Very faint aromatics at first with just fleeting notes of soy, something I tend to associate with oxidized wine. With air though this picked up a lot, getting much more spicy and expressive with a hint of lilac. Over time this takes on a pleasing element of pine resin, getting much deeper and more aromatically intense. On first taste this immediately grabs me as a big, meaty mouthful of Châteauneuf-du-Pape with lots of dried herbs, spice and structure. The personality is much more mineral and salty than the other wines in the lineup, again with the pine resin and savory element, quite grippy and dry on the finish. Really good stuff but somewhat forbidding and powerful at this stage. My notes finish with a plea: "GIMME SOME LAMB!!!!" One of 4 tasters picked this as a 2003 and complained that it seemed over the hill and oxidized from the initial pour (note my soy above), but he did agree on retaste that it had rebounded quite a bit. I correctly guessed this as a the 2004 since it shared similar weight and intensity with the 2003's and 2005 but seemed both less sweet (much more savory really) AND rather shut down in comparison.

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• 2003 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape Flawed

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

  L 056 SECK. Hoohah, fun and reasonably expressive nose right from the get go! Bramble and funky-dunky Grenache pop right of the glass. Definitely smells more 'dense' as it airs with string notes of raspberry jam and a definite overripe element on the end of the nose. Mmm, this is weighty and spicy with super vibrancy, white pepper, dynamic, intense, very nice! Wowza, there is LOTS of minerality on the finish with tooth-gripping structure, on the verge of 'uncivilized' at this stage and definitely almost over the top. Every taster correctly picked this as a 2003, and given some of the complaints of the vintage and wine, this was most in that neighborhood. Despite that, I had this at 93 in my book. Around the time we were comparing notes (but before we had unbagged) I started to notice a increasingly troubling edge of volatile acidity on the nose. At this point I recalled that one of the 2003's had an unusual cork with a vein/split running 1/4 of the way up the bottom end of the cork on one side (and wet into the middle of the cork). Right then and there upon smelling the faint whiff of VA I showed the group the cork and bet that when unveiled that this would in fact be a 2003 AND the bottle from whence that defective enclosure had been removed. I further postulated that the VA was a sign of some oxidation and that it was an enclosure issue. Who knows if my theory was correct, but when we unbagged later I was indeed correct in identifying the bottle. I am rating this as NR since I think it was flawed as a result of a poor cork. That said, my notes clearly show that I enjoyed the wine a lot for the first 60-75 minutes. By the way, all four tasters correctly guessed this as a 2003.

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• 2001 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape 94 Points

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

  Clearly a different animal than every other wine on the table. Obvious Provencale in personality with lilac, dried herbs (garrigue), iodine, celery seed and a note of tar. Yeah, soy, licorice, tapenade, fricking yummy-licious wine! Textbook Châteauneuf-du-Pape, classic, very savory in this finish. In this lineup it came across as VERY understated, but it was wonderful. I correctly guessed this as the 2001, and no taster picked it as a 2003. I think I need to have another one with dinner tonight!

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• 2003 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape 95 Points

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

  L 057 CLOS. Rather mute at first with notes of iron and rust dominating for quite a while. Eventually this starts to yield spicier notes on the nose that struck me as a bit more Zinfandel than Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Wow, big disconnect between palate and nose, super zippy, vibrant, intense, this is C*R*A*Z*Y. This just pounces all over you, very tight relative to the rest of the wines, but after 75+ minutes it really started to open up. In the end my notes were pretty simple: "This rocks!" Amazing minerality and spice on the finish. All four tasters correctly picked this as a 2003. 95+ points for me and gaining very rapidly after a slow start.

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• 2003 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape 97 Points

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

  L 054 JUNG. Mmm, some funk/bretty notes, spice, a great nose, really ripe. Wow, this is great stuff! Stupendous wine that has it all with an extra oomph, very dynamic, vibrant, white pepper, funk, power and vibrancy. I incorrectly guessed this as the 2005, and no taster picked it as a 2003. Hands down the favorite wine for each taster.

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All in all a very educational evening. What was clear to me is that the 2003, 2004 and 2005 are all VERY hefty wines, all rather similar in weight and intensity. The 2001 was a different (and lovely) animal. All of the 2003-2005 are quite ripe and intense, and it is easy to see why any or all of them could be controversial. While we had a fair amount of variation in the way our 2003's showed, all were clearly in the same general neighborhood as each other. Re-rereading my notes the next day it is clear that I enjoyed all of them and in fact the 2003's most of all. Any tasters out there complaining of thin, watery, dilute wines almost surely are seeing evidence of heat damage.

Happy drinking!