Community Tasting Notes 11

• forceberry wrote: 88 points

  August 15, 2020 - A blend of Mourvèdre (90-95%) and old-vine Grenache. 13% alcohol.
  
  Developed and very slightly translucent, dark mahogany red color with a somewhat evolved coppery rim. Developed, somewhat sweet-toned and slightly oxidative nose with aromas of wizened dark fruits, some bloody meat notes, a little bit of tobacco, light tertiary fruit notes of pruned and dried figs and a hint of leather. The wine is dry, dense and very savory on the palate with a full body and quite noticeably bitter taste of wizened figs, ripe dark-toned fruits, some umami notes of raw, bloody meat, light crunchy crowberry tones, a little bit of beef jerky, a hint of tobacco and a touch of old, dry leather. The overall feel is enjoyably textural and quite seriously structured with its high acidity and still quite formidable, grippy tannins. The finish is rather tannic and grippy with remarkably long and rather robust flavors of crunchy redcurrants, quite pronounced sour cherry bitterness, a little bit of pruney dark fruits, light raisiny tones, an umami hint of gamey meat and a touch of pipe tobacco.
  
  A tough, stern and dead-serious powerhouse of Bandol. This bottle was from the same batch as the bottle of which my last TN was on; unlike that bottle, which felt noticeably tired and rather oxidative, this wine was in much better shape, retaining a good deal of fruit and not showing much oxidative qualities. However, I suspect those bottles have come from a cellar with nonoptimal conditions, since this wine, too, felt more evolved and tertiary than what I'd expect from a Pradeaux clocking at 20-25 years of age. This was good as a whole, showing solid balance between the fruit and the structure, but it still isn't match for the best old Bandols I've had. Hopefully this and the previous bottle I had were just performing poorly and there are some better-kept bottles that perform better. At 32,50€ this was priced somewhat according to its quality.

  Comment

• forceberry wrote: 85 points

  January 18, 2020 - A blend of Mourvèdre (90-95%) and old-vine Grenache. 13% alcohol.
  
  Deep, very developed reddish mahogany color with a brick-orange-to-yellow rim. Restrained, meaty and slightly oxidative nose with aromas of beef jerky, some pungent rancio, a little bit of dried dark berries, light raisiny tones, a sweet hint of cherry liqueur and a touch of wizened red fruits. The wine is ripe, full-bodied and quite tertiary on the palate with flavors of beef jerky, salty soy sauce, some crunchy cranberry, light umami notes of meat, light raisiny tones, a hint of sweet dark forest fruits and a touch of sour cherry bitterness. The wine might be quite aged, but it still retains impressive structure composed of high acidity and still rather firm and grippy tannins. The finish is quite grippy and tannic with relatively tertiary flavors of prunes, some tart lingonberries, a little bit of salt-cured beef, light smoky tones, a hint of soy sauce and a touch of raisin.
  
  A still very impressively structured Bandol that is unfortunately started to go downhill in the fruit department. I was surprised to find this wine so evolved, since Pradeaux is supposed to be some of the longest-lived Bandol wines out there. Since this was acquired only quite recently, perhaps this was just a badly kept bottle then? If that was the case, the wine shows good promise based on its power and tightly-knit structure. However, based on this bottle alone I really can't award with a particularly high score. In its current shape the wine was rather overpriced at 32,50€.

  Comment

• Jeremy Holmes wrote:

  June 28, 2016 - In a great place right now. It smells of black cherry, tobacco, baked earth, licorice and leather. It has a graphite spine, some granite like minerality and plenty of ripe, sweet fruit. Balance is impeccable and there's good savoury complexity. It was fabulous with a fresh porcini pizza.

  Comment

• pbaek wrote:

  April 25, 2015 - The last glass, poured from a decanter 4 hours after opening the bottle, was by far the best. Less rustic than previous bottles, this is still a tight wine that really needs air to open up. The fruit is dark toned, towards the brown end of the spectrum and there's marks of tobacco, black olives and meat. A serious wine, by no means heavy, just very complex, one that challenges the mind. Will certainly keep and may even improve with more cellar time.

  Comment

• Jeremy Holmes wrote:

  June 19, 2014 - Smells sweaty and meaty and has a core of black fruits threaded with liquorice. There is some earthy development and the wine is muscular and quite savoury. It is chunky and still has firm tannins.

  Comment

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Wine Definition

• Vintage 1997
• Type Red
• Producer Château Pradeaux
• Varietal Mourvèdre Blend
• Designation n/a
• Vineyard n/a
• Country France
• Region Provence
• SubRegion n/a
• Appellation Bandol

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 0 (0%)
• In Cellars 25 (61%)
• Consumed 16 (39%)

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