Community Tasting Note

Paul S wrote:

Thursday, December 11, 2014 - NFA Dinner 2014 (Gattopardo Restaurant, Tras Street, Singapore): 2003 was the vintage of Da Capo (so named because it is meant to be symphony of all 13 varietals of CdP) that Laurence Feraud said she liked the least when we visited Pégaü a few years back - even though Robert Parker had anointed it with a perfect 100 points. I can see why - the heat of the 2003 vintages comes out enough for me to have guessed it as a 2003 Da Capo, and it may have lacked some of the juicy moreishness and balance of the greater vintages - but boy, I still thought that this was a superb wine. The nose was a shock to the system after the subtly fragrant 1995 Henri Bonneau Cuvee Celestins that precede it. This was big, rich and intense, with wafts of dried plums and dried prunes, and sweet dried cherries, with a halo of dried flowers and earth and garrigue floating on behind. Lovely stuff - very Provencal somehow and, while bold and assertive, still miles away from the in-your-face explosion of fruit and alcohol that was the 2010 Clos St Jean Deus ex Machinae - the third wine in the flight. The palate, as one would expect after such a nose, was ripe and powerful, with sweet flavours of dried plums and dried cherries, shading into prunes at time - all showing a bit of sur-maturite. Yet even with that over-ripe feel, there was always a clean enough balance to keep the wine feminine and floral at the same time, so that it seemed to glow with a sunny sweetness rather than being confected or spoofily fruited. There was just so much complexity coming out from amidst the fruit as well - hints of meat, a little kiss of warm, fragrant spice, sprigs of garrigue - just layers of detail as the wine powered into a long finish. The only thing that keeps this from being a great wine is the nagging sense of vintage on it, and the tannins just being a bit too drying right at the finish - this are, perhaps, things that even time will not cure. It is a great wine however, and still very much on its aging curve. It is quite a bit more forward than the Henri Bonneau, although (like the former wine), I would also give it another 3-4 years before trying again.

Post a Comment / View Paul S's profile
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue (5,572 views)