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Rhone dinner with Paul Jaouen
Backstreet Wine Salon, Phoenix, AZ
Tasted May 18, 2007 by mattiasjansson with 838 views
Flight 1 - Champagne (1 note)
White - Sparkling
N.V. Jean Milan Champagne Grand Cru Special
89 points
Pale and cloudy. Initially dominated by acidity. Opened up with ripe pears.
Flight 2 - The Whites (4 notes)
White
2005 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc La Crau
92 points
Soft, light-bodied and fresh. Great balance and nice, long finish.
White
2004 Le Clos du Caillou Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc
89 points
Medium-bodied. Nicely balanced, but a bit flat/hollow on the mid-palate. Also, a touch hot? (Nobody else mentioned this so I may be the only one who got that.)
White
1999 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc
93 points
Beautiful nose. Some oxidization has set in but not in a negative way - I believe this has reached its peak. I kept this in the glass for over an hour and it showed beautifully the whole time. Wonderful full-flavored wine with a long complex finish.
White
2001 E. Guigal Ermitage Blanc Ex-Voto
92 points
Oak still not fully integrated. Medium-bodied and full-flavored fruit. Hazelnuts on the beautiful finish.
Flight 3 - CNDP - 1 (3 notes)
Red
1995 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Crau
92 points
Some barnyard on the nose. Earthy and complex. Surprisingly young. Beautiful wine.
Red
2004 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Crau
88 points
Not showing as well as the bottle I had a couple of months ago. Very tannic. Monolithic now - needs time. Last time I saw tremendous upside - this time it had shut down too hard to tell.
Red
1999 E. Guigal Châteauneuf-du-Pape
80 points
Very disappointing. Barnyard, rough tannins and bitterness. Very little fruit. I would not have rated this had I not had another disappointing bottle recently.
Flight 4 - CNDP - 2 (3 notes)
Red
1990 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée
flawed
Off bottle? Would have rated 83 points had I not learned that the provenance was questionable. Not terrible - just a shadow of normal Pegau. Medium brick red. Tannic.
Red
2000 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée
89 points
(My bottle.) Big and oaky. Earthy. Needs time - hard to tell whether it will come around.
Flight 5 - One straggler CDNP and two Hermitages (3 notes)
Red
1995 Domaine Charvin Châteauneuf-du-Pape
92 points
Very nice nose. Controversial wine - several people in group did not care for it, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Red
2000 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage
92 points
Young, tannic. Beautiful dark fruit. Needs time - may develop into something truly great - not showing enough at this point to tell.
Red
1983 Marc Sorrel Hermitage
91 points
Cola and mushrooms on nice/interesting nose. Medium-bodied. Tannins fully integrated. Fruit still hanging in there but I think we caught it at the end of its life.
Flight 6 - More Northern Rhones (4 notes)
Red
2000 Les Vins de Vienne Sotanum
86 points
I liked this much better last time. Very floral and perfumey. A bit hot.
Red
1997 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie Brune et Blonde
90 points
(My bottle.) Peppery nose. Nice fruit with a long finish.
Red
1998 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie Château d'Ampuis
85 points
Disappointing. Tight and a bit bitter. Ok fruit, but bland mid-palate and short finish.
Red
1995 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Mouline
94 points
Medium-red. Wonderful nose. Still some tannins to shed - will likely continue to improve. Long, long finish.
Flight 7 - Dessert (2 notes)
White - Sweet/Dessert
2001 Château Suduiraut
Nose has hints of greatness but it was very muted. Palate flat. Differing opinions on whether the bottle was off. Suspect enough that I will not rate it. (Would have been ~85.)
White - Sweet/Dessert
2003 Château Suduiraut
92 points
Much better than the (flawed?) 2001 we had opened earlier. Typical Sauternes - still very young.