Celebrating Again! (Ngaio, Wellington, New Zealand): Absolutely a point at the moment. This is the essence of the Beaucastel style, and is an untimate expression of the heights Mouvedre can achieve. While still tannic and rustic, the bottle has clearly reached a stage of maturity that combines extreme bottle age complexity with vibrant fruit. Wet tree-bark notes combine with black berry fruit, leather, undergrowth, mushroom, moss, earth, hung game, and provencal herbs. Beautiful modulated finish. This is clearly one of the great wines of the South of France. It is a poster child for what John Gillman writes about when he talks about the transparency to the soil that Beaucastel can develop with a couple of ecades or more of bottle age. Drink or give it another decade to send it into the "old bones" stage, only reserved for the greatest of wines. This (and most of the other wines opened over the weekend) amply demonstrate what can be achieved by cellaring age-worthy wine.
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Clearly drinking at peak, the nose is off the hook with its olives, herbs, smoked red cherries, bright red plums, black pepper, flowers, and thyme notes. There is power here which is balanced by the wine's elegance, which allows the finish to shine with all of its meaty, red fruits that linger. Drink from 2022-2035.
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One of the best CdPs I’ve ever had. While mature, you could tell it also has plenty of time left. All of the classic scents/ flavors of a fine CdP were there in abundance. An almost explosive nose for a wine of its age showed brambly fruit, minerals, with a touch of vinegar/earth that was actually very appealing. After about 45 minutes in the carafe, my palate was caressed with red and black fruit, iodine, smoky meat, and barnyard flavors. Wonderfully balanced, the only flaw I could find was a slight heat on the finish. Otherwise, would have been 100pts.
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Decanted from a magnum. The nose was deep and flagrant with animal, feral, mint, herbs and purple flowers. Palate was rich but light on its feet with a lovely silky mouthfeel. The 90 Hommage possessed tremendous length and finish. There are only a handful of CDP (Rayas, Henri Bonneau, Pegau da Capo) that can achieve this kind of light on its feet richness and elegance. A treat to drink this.
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Not as clean as previous bottles, this showed a distinctive, barnyard, animal character. Still, there was a lot to like about it. Full bodied, rich, round, spicy and fresh, the tannins have melted away. The earthy kirsch sang loud and clear, but the animalistic notes demanded to be heard as well. So, some will like this specific bottle more than others.
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Great experience. The wine was light amber/burgundy in color and very hazy - leading to concerns about condition. But it drank beautifully - smooth and medium weight with spice, garrigues, cigar and still ample fruit. May not improve, but great now so drink before it goes over the edge.
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From the colour this looked an old/tired wine. The initial attack was smooth with notes of mint, herbs and damp earth. The finish was simply an explosion of spice that lasted and lasted. Wow - very special indeed.
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This was the second bottle tasted this year, and both times, the wine easily hit the top of the hit parade, with triple digit scores. The levels of concentration found here is remarkable, especially as everything is in balance and harmony. The fruit is fresh, pure and vibrant, the spicy quality just shines. The finish, which is impossible to tire of, must last at least 60 second, or longer. It is a legend in the making. Most pricey wines let you down, as expectations are often too high, but this is one expensive wine that truly delivers the goods.
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The Sampler Xmas Icons 2017: Medium body, slight bricking not unlike the 78 of the main cuvée. Stomatically it’s bigger, stepping up a gear, but lacks some of the exotic complexity of the 78. It’s rich and delicious on the palate with dark fruit just relaxing and starting to develop, I think there’s more to come here, the waves of flavour keep coming in the finish, very impressive but I think I prefer the 78 of the 2, but come back to this in a decade or so and it should be the better wine.
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Just not a wine you see often, but when you do, it's a thrill and a treat. Served double blind, with its distinctive, barnyard component, I was sure it was a top vintage of Bonneau Celestins. Full bodied, youthful, with an earthy, animalistic, spicy, perfume that adds to the plum, kirsch and black cherry notes. Full bodied, concentrated and long, the tannins are, soft, refined and feel great. If you're lucky enough to be sitting on a few bottles, pop a cork on one now, and age the other for another decade.
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A bit disappointing after an unbelievable flight of 89 Rayas and Bonneau and the magnificent 78 Bonneau. The 90 HaJP was brooding and complex with prunes on the nose. Not very vibrant or acidic. Perhaps it needed more time? Bonneau/Rayas dinner.
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Flickinger Warehouse Tasting (Chicago, IL): The first letters of my handwritten tasting note say "OMGWTFBBQ". This is insanity. Easily one of the best red wines I've ever tasted, and it's a Châteauneuf too. Well, I'm not one to discriminate on the basis of appellation. This takes a bit of that perfume of the 1989 and trades it in for even more depth and power. There's a lovely hint of fresh herbs here as well, balanced with against an inordinate amount of very, very ripe fruit. On the palate, there's crazy acidity, that gives this beast some serious momentum.
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I rarely score wines but this one was perfection last night. The nose, the palate the unending and beautiful finish all contributed to as complete and harmonious a wine as I've tasted in a long time, if ever. There were 2 other 100 point scored wines and a handful of 99 point scorers in this line up but this one stood above the rest as the most complete. For a night, perfection.
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Château Beaucastel Hommage à Jacques Perrin Dinner (Vaucluse): [Magnum] Nice expressive nose, earthy and soily, not overwhelmingly farmy. Very alive, very fresh, dense berry fruit, damp tobacco, complex layers of soils and minerals, damp leathers and spices. Robust on the palate at first but softens up into a beautiful finish. Better than the ’89 tonight and likely the best wine of the vertical.
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Hommage a Jacques Perrin (and what an Hommage it was!) (Vaucluse (short trip to Aldo Sohm to finish the night)): Notes significantly less detailed at this point in the night as we were all enjoying the conversation and the wonderfulness of 14 brilliant wines in front of us. Still get some brett here, carmelized fruit, this was incredibly elegant and for the first time in the wines I was starting to get some of the aged characteristic that I like. Again well structured. Beautiful. Hard to know between this or the '89 what was WOTN, but both were pretty spectacular.
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cp 50 (Gentofte): More rusticque, more of a peasant wine, speaks of the land …. Took a lot of bashing around the table. I was guessing Northern Rhône here, it is a darker, more restrained wine than its lesser sibling – and loosing out tonight. Maybe not quite correct, I am not sure
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A disappointing bottle, but that is a relative statement. A strong dark fruit presence but somewhat frayed around the edges in this bottle. Dark earth, but somewhat muddied. Spice but not as forceful and sharp as previous bottles. An excellent wine and bottle, but not exceptional.
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This wine was off-the-charts tonight against some pretty good competition including the '89 La Turque! There is this gorgeous fresh cherry fruit that is so fine and elegant yet framed by a still somewhat structured package. There are also complex notes of licorice, black spices and minerals and the finish is intense and complex with wonderful dusty and ripe tannins. Just an incredible performance tonight and while this will easily last for decades,I love it right now for its extraordinary, sexy, cherry mineral flavor.
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Wonderful nose, somewhat brighter than the '89 Turque which this was paired with. Dark fruits including cherry and boysenberry, smoked meat, black and even white pepper, and a faint whiff of black truffle. This was the best experience that I have ever had with this wine, significantly better than a bottle one year ago.
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double-decanted, slow-ox one hour. dark garnet w/paling to orange-red at rim; brilliant sweet spices & wild cherry liqueur nose, red fruits confiture, wild fennel; med-full bodied; superb delivery from the outset, crushed raspberries, bramble fruits, roasted peppercorn, ripe & yet streamlined at the same time, long, long sumptuous finish. served alongside '89 Hommage, this was clearly the crowd-pleaser tonight & a poster child for perfect provenance from the cellar door.
rack of lamb, macaroni w/stinky cheese (at EoF)
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Chateauneuf Du Pape 1990 Horisontal (@Terkel): Deep and you fruit and overall a wine with an impressive balance. Long and acidic aftertaste.. Just a beautiful wine!! A stunning wine that truly impressed me :-)
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35th Anniversary Party Cellar Tasting; 6/16/2012-6/17/2012 (Rich & Dana's): Deep crimson/garnet core fading slightly at the meniscus. Beautiful aromatic display featuring florals, red fruit, plum, blackberry and roasted game with barnyard and garrigue overtones. Powerful, yet balanced and elegant at the same time. Flavors of red fruit turn to black fruit, white pepper and roasted herbs as this moves across the palate. Lingers on the finish for minutes. 97+ pts.
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Explosive, pungent aromas of barnyard, black pepper, plum liqueur, black cherry jam, truffle, meat and spice. This wine is huge. But everything is in perfect balance and harmony. Concentrated and dense, this powerful wine coats your palate with essence of Chateauneuf. Still young at 20, this can easily improve for another 20-30 years. This is an amazing wine that offers a mind blowing tasting experience.
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tied with the 90 rayas for the wine of the night at a tasting of top tiered 89 and 90 chateuneufs. this is the third tasting of this ilk in the last five years. in the prior two tastings, this wine was voted the best but the 90 rayas in each instance was corked. this wine was not as powerful as i remembered it from the tasting two years ago. i will assume bottle variation and look forward to the rest of my stash.
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I could do with one word: WOW! A beautiful and complex bouquet with lots of fruits, herbs, spices, meat and liquorice. Already in a beautiful stage of development. All the flavors come back in the taste. The soft and still powerful tannin promises many more years. A great and complex and also refined wine.
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Schwing! Seamleass. You just want to hug your glass. Great bright fruit of mostly grenache flavors with a richness that is hard to describe. Unbelievable mid palate where everything comes together like a concerto. A slight tad of barnyard that added a nice flavor profile. Very young. Try again in ten years.
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blue-chip boredom (Compass): From magnum. Not what I expected, never having had Hommage before. At first it smells just like a Bordeaux, then segues to lavender and herbs. Thought there would have been more funk. Fruit is mild with borderline silky tannins, still somewhat claret-like.
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Umm, whoops... So I was in a big hurry and late for dinner with friends. I grabbed a couple of bottles to bring out to dinner and didn't pay enough attention to the label. I was thinking I had snagged a regular 1990 Beaucastel and didn't notice it was a Hommage until after the wine was open at the restaurant. (Upon tasting I was surprised by the intensity and lack of brett.) What a dumbass I am...
Anyway, this is a remarkable wine that is a mere infant. Incredible depth and purity. A real treasure. Definitely a little sweet with incredible structure. Nicely floral on the nose. Thick, meaty and focused on the palate. No heaviness at all despite the remarkable concentration.
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This is like blood in a bottle. Dense, dark, not giving up much on the nose. The palate is unreal, wild and ornery, some terrific garrigue, definite sanguine character, and stunningly plush with ample tannins. Mmm, there is a really sweet and generous core to this wine, so ripe and yet so powerful. A mere baby right now. Even with 4 hours of decanting and following this over 2 yours, it barely budged.
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Dark ruby colour with garnet flecks. Aromas of garrigue, stone, black licorice, truffle, barnyard, and leather. Full-bodied, ethereal wine, with black olive, licorice, truffle, earth, and leather. Long finish, goes for minutes, with black fruit and olives. Would warrant a higher score if the nose was just a little cleaner. Plenty of power in this wine. Tasted with Giacomo Conterno at Poderi Aldo Conterno on 06/08/2006.
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Almost perfect. Overpowering barnyard nose when first opened, then layers and layers over time in the glass. Hard to imagine a better balanced Chateauneuf-du-pap once it settled down.
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Wrap-up dinner at Butterfield9 (Washington DC): Well it's a good day when you can have this wine TWICE in the same day! The first bottle was impressive, but this bottle was just off the charts, everything I could ever think to ask for in a Châteauneuf-du-Pape. What really blew me away about the bottle tonight was just how, open, complex an expressive it was, a crazy melange of spices, roasted meat, cherry, blood, all delivered in a rich, deep, chewy package that is loaded with fruit, structure, nice acidity and delineation. Man oh man, unreal!
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Antwerp - or "The Day the Music Died" (Antwerp): if there ever were two wines so dissimilar as the Celestins and this please point to them. This wine is a beast. Trully it jump on you and jams gobs of fruit and barnyard and tannins down your throat... this is a very very powerfull masculine wine. It also can gain with bottle age IMHO because it is still shifting - closing and opening again. There is a great balance to this wine - and even with all that power it manages to stay in controll - its a wine and not syrup. forget about counting seconds on the finish - not that i could count by that point - the finish just goes on. I prefer the Celestins style but i would be happy to drink another one of these any day :)
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MOO! Did i step in something or is that the wine?? absolute nose of barnyard and scorched earth. the palate was just a monster, and the mourvedre component was leading the charge. More merde, roasted lamb, some new car leather, intense minerality, and incredible spine and long silky but present tannins. This wine is still a barrel sample. Unreal. If you own any, hold another 10 years. Fantastic wine in the making.
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Dark red colour with a hint of browning at the rim. Scents of strawberries and sea breeze. On first impression the wine seemed slightly dry in the mouth, but after a little while it opened up and gave a flavour impression of "wet" tobacco, dough, and other baking materials. Quite rustic with good intensity and weight, this wine had a somewhat sluggish delivery, but at the same time it possessed excellent density of fruit, ripeness, and power. Somewhat awkard, perhaps even clumsy, yet with charm and elegance, lots of finesse, and delicious flavour. Long on the aftertaste. A nice wine, but curiously it is definitely not as good as the generic Beaucastel. Go figure.
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Beaucastel CDnP “Jaques Perrin” 1990 – serious brett! – but I loved it. (my wife did not). Unreal concentration. Stupendous length – really wild cherry flavours. I had this wine on release and found a chocolate covered orange flavour (a candy called jaffas tastes like this down here), but I did not notice it this time. A truly great wine, if you can get past the brett, This, like the previous two wines is a baby. 97 pnts
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3/23/2024 - Marc wrote: 98 Points
Celebrating Again! (Ngaio, Wellington, New Zealand): Absolutely a point at the moment. This is the essence of the Beaucastel style, and is an untimate expression of the heights Mouvedre can achieve. While still tannic and rustic, the bottle has clearly reached a stage of maturity that combines extreme bottle age complexity with vibrant fruit. Wet tree-bark notes combine with black berry fruit, leather, undergrowth, mushroom, moss, earth, hung game, and provencal herbs. Beautiful modulated finish. This is clearly one of the great wines of the South of France. It is a poster child for what John Gillman writes about when he talks about the transparency to the soil that Beaucastel can develop with a couple of ecades or more of bottle age. Drink or give it another decade to send it into the "old bones" stage, only reserved for the greatest of wines. This (and most of the other wines opened over the weekend) amply demonstrate what can be achieved by cellaring age-worthy wine.
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8/10/2022 - Jeff Leve wrote: 99 Points
Clearly drinking at peak, the nose is off the hook with its olives, herbs, smoked red cherries, bright red plums, black pepper, flowers, and thyme notes. There is power here which is balanced by the wine's elegance, which allows the finish to shine with all of its meaty, red fruits that linger. Drink from 2022-2035.
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1/24/2022 - DickMull Likes this wine: 98 Points
One of the best CdPs I’ve ever had. While mature, you could tell it also has plenty of time left. All of the classic scents/ flavors of a fine CdP were there in abundance. An almost explosive nose for a wine of its age showed brambly fruit, minerals, with a touch of vinegar/earth that was actually very appealing. After about 45 minutes in the carafe, my palate was caressed with red and black fruit, iodine, smoky meat, and barnyard flavors. Wonderfully balanced, the only flaw I could find was a slight heat on the finish. Otherwise, would have been 100pts.
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1/31/2020 - Burgnick Likes this wine: 96 Points
Decanted from a magnum. The nose was deep and flagrant with animal, feral, mint, herbs and purple flowers. Palate was rich but light on its feet with a lovely silky mouthfeel. The 90 Hommage possessed tremendous length and finish. There are only a handful of CDP (Rayas, Henri Bonneau, Pegau da Capo) that can achieve this kind of light on its feet richness and elegance. A treat to drink this.
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12/4/2018 - steinersing wrote: 97 Points
Great wine, complex, deep, super fruit
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7/23/2018 - Jeff Leve wrote: 97 Points
Not as clean as previous bottles, this showed a distinctive, barnyard, animal character. Still, there was a lot to like about it. Full bodied, rich, round, spicy and fresh, the tannins have melted away. The earthy kirsch sang loud and clear, but the animalistic notes demanded to be heard as well. So, some will like this specific bottle more than others.
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6/4/2018 - psyrah wrote: flawed
Bummer, off putting nose, solvent-like, maybe VA, drinkable, but almost no fruit, tannin gone.
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5/7/2018 - SteelerFan wrote: 96 Points
Great experience. The wine was light amber/burgundy in color and very hazy - leading to concerns about condition. But it drank beautifully - smooth and medium weight with spice, garrigues, cigar and still ample fruit. May not improve, but great now so drink before it goes over the edge.
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12/21/2017 - phynes wrote: 98 Points
From the colour this looked an old/tired wine. The initial attack was smooth with notes of mint, herbs and damp earth. The finish was simply an explosion of spice that lasted and lasted. Wow - very special indeed.
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12/15/2017 - Jeff Leve wrote: 100 Points
This was the second bottle tasted this year, and both times, the wine easily hit the top of the hit parade, with triple digit scores. The levels of concentration found here is remarkable, especially as everything is in balance and harmony. The fruit is fresh, pure and vibrant, the spicy quality just shines. The finish, which is impossible to tire of, must last at least 60 second, or longer. It is a legend in the making. Most pricey wines let you down, as expectations are often too high, but this is one expensive wine that truly delivers the goods.
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12/9/2017 - kingkanu wrote: 93 Points
The Sampler Xmas Icons 2017: Medium body, slight bricking not unlike the 78 of the main cuvée. Stomatically it’s bigger, stepping up a gear, but lacks some of the exotic complexity of the 78. It’s rich and delicious on the palate with dark fruit just relaxing and starting to develop, I think there’s more to come here, the waves of flavour keep coming in the finish, very impressive but I think I prefer the 78 of the 2, but come back to this in a decade or so and it should be the better wine.
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12/8/2017 - SlimShaney wrote: 92 Points
Several intriguing flavours, like 50 shaedes of plum. Sweet and enjoyable. Subtle and bold but all finesse and balance.
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5/30/2017 - Jeff Leve wrote: 98 Points
Just not a wine you see often, but when you do, it's a thrill and a treat. Served double blind, with its distinctive, barnyard component, I was sure it was a top vintage of Bonneau Celestins. Full bodied, youthful, with an earthy, animalistic, spicy, perfume that adds to the plum, kirsch and black cherry notes. Full bodied, concentrated and long, the tannins are, soft, refined and feel great. If you're lucky enough to be sitting on a few bottles, pop a cork on one now, and age the other for another decade.
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1/3/2017 - nywine68 Likes this wine: 92 Points
A bit disappointing after an unbelievable flight of 89 Rayas and Bonneau and the magnificent 78 Bonneau. The 90 HaJP was brooding and complex with prunes on the nose. Not very vibrant or acidic. Perhaps it needed more time? Bonneau/Rayas dinner.
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9/10/2016 - acyso wrote: 98 Points
Flickinger Warehouse Tasting (Chicago, IL): The first letters of my handwritten tasting note say "OMGWTFBBQ". This is insanity. Easily one of the best red wines I've ever tasted, and it's a Châteauneuf too. Well, I'm not one to discriminate on the basis of appellation. This takes a bit of that perfume of the 1989 and trades it in for even more depth and power. There's a lovely hint of fresh herbs here as well, balanced with against an inordinate amount of very, very ripe fruit. On the palate, there's crazy acidity, that gives this beast some serious momentum.
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8/2/2016 - hiker_guy Likes this wine: 100 Points
I rarely score wines but this one was perfection last night. The nose, the palate the unending and beautiful finish all contributed to as complete and harmonious a wine as I've tasted in a long time, if ever. There were 2 other 100 point scored wines and a handful of 99 point scorers in this line up but this one stood above the rest as the most complete. For a night, perfection.
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4/19/2016 - The Vines That Bind wrote: 96 Points
Château Beaucastel Hommage à Jacques Perrin Dinner (Vaucluse): [Magnum] Nice expressive nose, earthy and soily, not overwhelmingly farmy. Very alive, very fresh, dense berry fruit, damp tobacco, complex layers of soils and minerals, damp leathers and spices. Robust on the palate at first but softens up into a beautiful finish. Better than the ’89 tonight and likely the best wine of the vertical.
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4/19/2016 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Hommage a Jacques Perrin (and what an Hommage it was!) (Vaucluse (short trip to Aldo Sohm to finish the night)): Notes significantly less detailed at this point in the night as we were all enjoying the conversation and the wonderfulness of 14 brilliant wines in front of us. Still get some brett here, carmelized fruit, this was incredibly elegant and for the first time in the wines I was starting to get some of the aged characteristic that I like. Again well structured. Beautiful. Hard to know between this or the '89 what was WOTN, but both were pretty spectacular.
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1/23/2016 - beatles wrote:
cp 50 (Gentofte): More rusticque, more of a peasant wine, speaks of the land …. Took a lot of bashing around the table. I was guessing Northern Rhône here, it is a darker, more restrained wine than its lesser sibling – and loosing out tonight. Maybe not quite correct, I am not sure
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1/2/2016 - tinybubbles Likes this wine: 95 Points
A disappointing bottle, but that is a relative statement. A strong dark fruit presence but somewhat frayed around the edges in this bottle. Dark earth, but somewhat muddied. Spice but not as forceful and sharp as previous bottles. An excellent wine and bottle, but not exceptional.
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11/3/2015 - fcxj wrote: 94 Points
Expressive nose. Longgg.
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10/21/2015 - Burgundy Al wrote:
Some Wine Tasted at the Zachys Auction (Four Seasons Restaurant - New York NY): Small taste, brief note. Wonderful black fruit, slightly maturing, great density. Very engaging spice. Slight trace of brett, perhaps a bit more than I'd prefer for further cellaring.
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2/20/2015 - dcwino wrote: 98 Points
Hommage A Jacques Perrin dinner - 89, 90, 00 and 10, also 02 Salon, 02 Carillon BBM, 89 Constance and etc. (The Grill Room at Capella Hotel Georgetown): Riper and bigger than the 89, intense sweet black fruits, black berries and black cherries, a hint of espresso, dark spices, black pepper and dry limestone/dust. Excellent concentration, ripe yet cool overall fruit impression, strong presence of mineral, good acidity, nicely layered fruits, nicely integrated tannins and incredibly long finish. Extremely impressive and enjoyable but still need further cellaring.
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12/30/2014 - dream Likes this wine: 98 Points
This wine was off-the-charts tonight against some pretty good competition including the '89 La Turque! There is this gorgeous fresh cherry fruit that is so fine and elegant yet framed by a still somewhat structured package. There are also complex notes of licorice, black spices and minerals and the finish is intense and complex with wonderful dusty and ripe tannins. Just an incredible performance tonight and while this will easily last for decades,I love it right now for its extraordinary, sexy, cherry mineral flavor.
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12/29/2014 - tinybubbles Likes this wine: 98 Points
Wonderful nose, somewhat brighter than the '89 Turque which this was paired with. Dark fruits including cherry and boysenberry, smoked meat, black and even white pepper, and a faint whiff of black truffle. This was the best experience that I have ever had with this wine, significantly better than a bottle one year ago.
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12/4/2014 - pigdaddy wrote: 97 Points
double-decanted, slow-ox one hour. dark garnet w/paling to orange-red at rim; brilliant sweet spices & wild cherry liqueur nose, red fruits confiture, wild fennel; med-full bodied; superb delivery from the outset, crushed raspberries, bramble fruits, roasted peppercorn, ripe & yet streamlined at the same time, long, long sumptuous finish. served alongside '89 Hommage, this was clearly the crowd-pleaser tonight & a poster child for perfect provenance from the cellar door.
rack of lamb, macaroni w/stinky cheese (at EoF)
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9/20/2014 - canan wrote: 98 Points
Chateauneuf Du Pape 1990 Horisontal (@Terkel): Deep and you fruit and overall a wine with an impressive balance. Long and acidic aftertaste.. Just a beautiful wine!!
A stunning wine that truly impressed me :-)
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6/16/2012 - AllRed wrote: 97 Points
35th Anniversary Party Cellar Tasting; 6/16/2012-6/17/2012 (Rich & Dana's): Deep crimson/garnet core fading slightly at the meniscus. Beautiful aromatic display featuring florals, red fruit, plum, blackberry and roasted game with barnyard and garrigue overtones. Powerful, yet balanced and elegant at the same time. Flavors of red fruit turn to black fruit, white pepper and roasted herbs as this moves across the palate. Lingers on the finish for minutes. 97+ pts.
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5/3/2012 - lepetitchateau wrote: 94 Points
From jero; fruit, fruit and more fruit... yet, this has a way of making a person happy.
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5/26/2011 - Jeff Leve wrote: 100 Points
Explosive, pungent aromas of barnyard, black pepper, plum liqueur, black cherry jam, truffle, meat and spice. This wine is huge. But everything is in perfect balance and harmony. Concentrated and dense, this powerful wine coats your palate with essence of Chateauneuf. Still young at 20, this can easily improve for another 20-30 years. This is an amazing wine that offers a mind blowing tasting experience.
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1/24/2011 - IAMVLAD wrote: 98 Points
tied with the 90 rayas for the wine of the night at a tasting of top tiered 89 and 90 chateuneufs. this is the third tasting of this ilk in the last five years. in the prior two tastings, this wine was voted the best but the 90 rayas in each instance was corked. this wine was not as powerful as i remembered it from the tasting two years ago. i will assume bottle variation and look forward to the rest of my stash.
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7/17/2010 - Zweder wrote: 98 Points
I could do with one word: WOW! A beautiful and complex bouquet with lots of fruits, herbs, spices, meat and liquorice. Already in a beautiful stage of development. All the flavors come back in the taste. The soft and still powerful tannin promises many more years. A great and complex and also refined wine.
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6/22/2010 - dream wrote: flawed
Corked. Fongule!
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6/12/2010 - rdsboca wrote: 95 Points
Schwing! Seamleass. You just want to hug your glass. Great bright fruit of mostly grenache flavors with a richness that is hard to describe. Unbelievable mid palate where everything comes together like a concerto. A slight tad of barnyard that added a nice flavor profile. Very young. Try again in ten years.
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5/19/2010 - WildeMeeuw wrote: 98 Points
1990 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin (Frankrijk, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape) Kleur: Helder robijnrood, oranje rand Aroma / bouquet: Snuffelwijn, expressief en rijp bouquet, donker fruit, kruidig, inkt, boersheid / animaliteit, maggi, laurierdrop, peperkoek. Smaak / Afdronk: Fluwelige aanzet maar buitengewoon krachtig, krachtig zuur, uitgesproken krachtige tannines in combinatie met heerlijke sappigheid, indrukken van zoete èn laurierdrop. Enorme lengte. Algemeen / potentieel: Geweldige wijn, zéér compleet. Prachtig op dronk en zal dat nog lange tijd blijven. 50 + Kleur: 5 + Aroma / bouquet: 14 + Smaak / Afdronk: 19 + Algemeen / potentieel: 10 = 98/100
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9/19/2009 - Jossik wrote: 94 Points
Piaciuta molto per le note animali, mescolate a lavanda e altri fiori che pian piano si facevano strada
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3/30/2008 - Keith Levenberg wrote: 86 Points
blue-chip boredom (Compass): From magnum. Not what I expected, never having had Hommage before. At first it smells just like a Bordeaux, then segues to lavender and herbs. Thought there would have been more funk. Fruit is mild with borderline silky tannins, still somewhat claret-like.
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5/17/2007 - Eric wrote:
Umm, whoops... So I was in a big hurry and late for dinner with friends. I grabbed a couple of bottles to bring out to dinner and didn't pay enough attention to the label. I was thinking I had snagged a regular 1990 Beaucastel and didn't notice it was a Hommage until after the wine was open at the restaurant. (Upon tasting I was surprised by the intensity and lack of brett.) What a dumbass I am...
Anyway, this is a remarkable wine that is a mere infant. Incredible depth and purity. A real treasure. Definitely a little sweet with incredible structure. Nicely floral on the nose. Thick, meaty and focused on the palate. No heaviness at all despite the remarkable concentration.
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12/24/2006 - Eric wrote:
This is like blood in a bottle. Dense, dark, not giving up much on the nose. The palate is unreal, wild and ornery, some terrific garrigue, definite sanguine character, and stunningly plush with ample tannins. Mmm, there is a really sweet and generous core to this wine, so ripe and yet so powerful. A mere baby right now. Even with 4 hours of decanting and following this over 2 yours, it barely budged.
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6/8/2006 - futronic wrote: 98 Points
Dark ruby colour with garnet flecks. Aromas of garrigue, stone, black licorice, truffle, barnyard, and leather. Full-bodied, ethereal wine, with black olive, licorice, truffle, earth, and leather. Long finish, goes for minutes, with black fruit and olives. Would warrant a higher score if the nose was just a little cleaner. Plenty of power in this wine. Tasted with Giacomo Conterno at Poderi Aldo Conterno on 06/08/2006.
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12/31/2005 - arappaport wrote: 99 Points
Almost perfect. Overpowering barnyard nose when first opened, then layers and layers over time in the glass. Hard to imagine a better balanced Chateauneuf-du-pap once it settled down.
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11/24/2005 - arappaport wrote: 99 Points
750ml
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11/24/2005 - arappaport wrote: 98 Points
3L bottle. Not quite as open as 750ml of the same vintage.
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11/13/2005 - Vini Ciclismo Likes this wine: 94 Points
Gruner and Mourvedre lunch with David Burkit (Bathers Pavillion): sweet fruit, young red berries earthy, not obviously mourvedre
sweet dried herbs, dried red berries, youthful
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8/12/2005 - Eric wrote: 100 Points
Wrap-up dinner at Butterfield9 (Washington DC): Well it's a good day when you can have this wine TWICE in the same day! The first bottle was impressive, but this bottle was just off the charts, everything I could ever think to ask for in a Châteauneuf-du-Pape. What really blew me away about the bottle tonight was just how, open, complex an expressive it was, a crazy melange of spices, roasted meat, cherry, blood, all delivered in a rich, deep, chewy package that is loaded with fruit, structure, nice acidity and delineation. Man oh man, unreal!
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8/12/2005 - Eric wrote:
43 bottles of Château Beaucastel with Bob Parker (Mark's Duck House, Falls Church, VA): This was perhaps edged out by the 1989 at lunch, but wow, it’s splitting hairs.
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8/10/2005 - Mlermontov wrote: 98 Points
Antwerp - or "The Day the Music Died" (Antwerp): if there ever were two wines so dissimilar as the Celestins and this please point to them. This wine is a beast. Trully it jump on you and jams gobs of fruit and barnyard and tannins down your throat... this is a very very powerfull masculine wine. It also can gain with bottle age IMHO because it is still shifting - closing and opening again. There is a great balance to this wine - and even with all that power it manages to stay in controll - its a wine and not syrup. forget about counting seconds on the finish - not that i could count by that point - the finish just goes on. I prefer the Celestins style but i would be happy to drink another one of these any day :)
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6/6/2005 - Koods wrote:
MOO! Did i step in something or is that the wine?? absolute nose of barnyard and scorched earth. the palate was just a monster, and the mourvedre component was leading the charge. More merde, roasted lamb, some new car leather, intense minerality, and incredible spine and long silky but present tannins. This wine is still a barrel sample. Unreal. If you own any, hold another 10 years. Fantastic wine in the making.
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5/5/2004 - Joe Belmaati wrote: 93 Points
Dark red colour with a hint of browning at the rim. Scents of strawberries and sea breeze. On first impression the wine seemed slightly dry in the mouth, but after a little while it opened up and gave a flavour impression of "wet" tobacco, dough, and other baking materials. Quite rustic with good intensity and weight, this wine had a somewhat sluggish delivery, but at the same time it possessed excellent density of fruit, ripeness, and power. Somewhat awkard, perhaps even clumsy, yet with charm and elegance, lots of finesse, and delicious flavour. Long on the aftertaste. A nice wine, but curiously it is definitely not as good as the generic Beaucastel. Go figure.
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6/17/2000 - Marc wrote: 97 Points
Beaucastel CDnP “Jaques Perrin” 1990 – serious brett! – but I loved it. (my wife did not). Unreal concentration. Stupendous length – really wild cherry flavours. I had this wine on release and found a chocolate covered orange flavour (a candy called jaffas tastes like this down here), but I did not notice it this time. A truly great wine, if you can get past the brett, This, like the previous two wines is a baby. 97 pnts
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