Drank it over 5 days. Lots of sediment in the bottle, had to let it rest before consuming. Flavor is good, started out medium bodied, but got fuller over the next days. Dark color with taste of dark berries. Good balance and finish.
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Crimson color with some bricking. Aromas of dark fruit, earth, leather, wet tobacco, mushrooms, and garrigue. Medium body, acid and finish, with flavors of dark and dark red fruits (fresh and dried), notable minerality, and spiking alcoholic heat, in spite of the non-excessive 14% on the label. All-in-all pretty good. Has the tannic structure to age 2-5 more years as well, IMO. Worked well with braised lamb shanks tonight.
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Initially quite closed and tired, showing oxidative and black olive flavors along with dried herb. After about 1.5 hours it started to open up and show some red fruit along with black peppercorn and campfire. Definitely got more interesting with some air. With a bit more air, savory/soy and oak flavors came out too. A fun wine to taste but I sense it's at peak and not getting any better. Drink up.
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Tasted over the course of four hours. This wine was showing very well, with youthful ripe fruit flavors - plums, blackberry, raspberry. It's young, with some somewhat aggressive tannins but they're balanced by the ripeness. Spicy, garrigue notes abound on the finish. I liked the mouthfeel, how this wine starts off light and ramps up the intensity as it washes across the palate. Still has plenty of life left in it.
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APPEARANCE Color: 4/4 pts. Deep crimson red, with a lighter rim.
Legs: 3/3 pts. Very slow legs.
Clarity: 3/3 pts. Sediment at the bottom of the bottle, but the liquid is clear.
Total Appearance Score: 10 points.
AROMA Nose Intensity: 4/5 pts. The intensity in the aroma is good; I can smell it a couple feet away as it is poured, and then a foot away as I twirl the glass.
Bouquet: 13/15 pts. Nice bouquet of aromas after it decanted and evolved over a few hours. The fruit is mixed. I get notes of sweet red cherry, notes of raspberry, and mixed with plum and earth. Maybe even a hint of something between anise and prune. There is faint wood, leather, pepper and spice.
Total Aroma Score: 17 points.
FLAVOR Balance: 5/5 pts. After decanting, the alcohol subsided and let me enjoy the wine. This wine is very complex with many flavors in the taste.
Taste/Flavors detected: 23/25 pts. Wow! What an explosion of flavor. Many, many layers. The fruit is very bold and dark. It's sweet and acidic at the same time. I taste cherry and raspberry briefly before the jammy sweetness takes over. But then the bold tannins push back the sweet. It's an exciting mouthful. There are after tastes of smoke, vanilla, burnt wood, dark, dark chocolate.
Taste Intensity: 10/10 pts. Perfect in the taste intensity category!
Total Flavor Score: 38 points.
BODY AND FINISH Body/Texture: 19/20 pts. Great texture. Not gritty or coarse. It is bold, but smooth.
Length of Finish: 8/10 pts. Great finish. There are flavors that carry to 1 minute mark.
Total Finish Score: 27 points.
TOTAL SCORE: 92 points.
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Popped and poured and was great from the get go, but really improved with a few hours of air. Was fun experiencing the wine evolve over the evening. Somewhat muted nose of cherry, red apple, leather and funky earth. But on the palate, wow! Delicious, old world Rhone style with integrated flavors of earth, leather, red cherry, candied apple, stewed plums, chinese five spice, some cranberry, tobacco, black licorice stick, even eucalyptus and ending with graphite. Drinking beautifully now with mellowed tannins. Medium bodied with enough acidity to pair well with pork loin and red cabbage, and was great on its own after dinner as it gained weight and complexity. Medium long finish. Glad I have a few more.
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90 minute decant. Medium red brick in appearance; a very nice mature CdP. Attractive nose of some raspberries, red licorice, some hints of Belgian candy sugar. Still can detect some tannins along with the red and black fruits complemented with some leathery black licorice and some herbs. Nice medium-long finish and this can probably evolve some more for an extra 3-5 years.
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I handled this bottle more gently based on my previous experience. I stood it on its base for a couple hours, then poured carefully into the decanter and managed to keep almost all the powdery lees in the bottle. Then we allowed it to stand undisturbed in the sealed carafe for 2.5 hours.
Paired with braised beef ribs in wine sauce this bottle added the perfect compliment and matched the bold gravy zing of the dish with its solid tannins, minerals, red fruit, and some zip of its own. This is the "twang" Bonnie called out on the first bottle and caused her to go 88 while I went 90. Well, tonight without the cluttering of the sediment she got the real experience of this wine and gave it a 92. I agree. Good call, Hon!
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Bonnie's going 88 and I'm going 90, and that's significant because, as we've stated before, 90 is a crossover score for us. It means we think the wine is really good and would definitely buy again, but you have to fight for the 90 on this one, as you'll read further down. It has a new cork as well, not sure what that means on a ten year old wine, maybe came from the bottom of the barrel?
If you've experienced much Chateauneuf de Pape you understand the CDP nose. I call it candy nose, and I love it. Bonnie loves the nose on this but says the wine has a bit of a twang that keeps her from going above 88, and I agree, but I appreciate the flavors and think the sediment is contributing to the twang, so sticking with 90. To help balance the argument, I've learned over time that Bonnie has what I would call an innocent and pure palete. She doesn't always understand exactly what's going on, but she pretty much nails it, in my estimation, with her judgment of wine. She knows good wine. But this bottle appeals to me so sticking with the 90, although Bonnie's probably right.
Handle carefully to avoid stirring up the powdery sediment.
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Very nice CDP, with classic spice and licorice bouquet and flavors. But clearly a notch below an 03 Font du Michelle Cuvee Etienne Gonnet we tried right before it. Very dry cork on this bottle; the lower half broke off and never separated from the bottle neck, which required us to drain the bottle thru a coffee filter.
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2003 CdP tasting at Rothmann's Steakhouse, New York. Served alongside the Clos des Papes, this comes across as a more structured and fresh wine. Josh and Asher find a lot of new oak here, I am not sure. The fruit is sweet and jammy and the length is ok. Ultimately, it is not a very interesting wine at this stage.
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12/14/2017 - SiciliaVegaUnica wrote: 88 Points
Drank it over 5 days. Lots of sediment in the bottle, had to let it rest before consuming. Flavor is good, started out medium bodied, but got fuller over the next days. Dark color with taste of dark berries. Good balance and finish.
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4/27/2015 - studleytrey wrote: 88 Points
Crimson color with some bricking. Aromas of dark fruit, earth, leather, wet tobacco, mushrooms, and garrigue. Medium body, acid and finish, with flavors of dark and dark red fruits (fresh and dried), notable minerality, and spiking alcoholic heat, in spite of the non-excessive 14% on the label. All-in-all pretty good. Has the tannic structure to age 2-5 more years as well, IMO. Worked well with braised lamb shanks tonight.
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4/22/2014 - ucbeau Likes this wine:
Initially quite closed and tired, showing oxidative and black olive flavors along with dried herb. After about 1.5 hours it started to open up and show some red fruit along with black peppercorn and campfire. Definitely got more interesting with some air. With a bit more air, savory/soy and oak flavors came out too. A fun wine to taste but I sense it's at peak and not getting any better. Drink up.
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4/21/2014 - wari wrote: 91 Points
Drinking well!
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2/14/2014 - ucbeau Likes this wine:
Tasted over the course of four hours. This wine was showing very well, with youthful ripe fruit flavors - plums, blackberry, raspberry. It's young, with some somewhat aggressive tannins but they're balanced by the ripeness. Spicy, garrigue notes abound on the finish. I liked the mouthfeel, how this wine starts off light and ramps up the intensity as it washes across the palate. Still has plenty of life left in it.
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1/15/2014 - RedWine512 Likes this wine: 93 Points
APPEARANCE
Color:
4/4 pts. Deep crimson red, with a lighter rim.
Legs:
3/3 pts. Very slow legs.
Clarity:
3/3 pts. Sediment at the bottom of the bottle, but the liquid is clear.
Total Appearance Score: 10 points.
AROMA
Nose Intensity:
4/5 pts. The intensity in the aroma is good; I can smell it a couple feet away as it is poured, and then a foot away as I twirl the glass.
Bouquet:
13/15 pts. Nice bouquet of aromas after it decanted and evolved over a few hours. The fruit is mixed. I get notes of sweet red cherry, notes of raspberry, and mixed with plum and earth. Maybe even a hint of something between anise and prune. There is faint wood, leather, pepper and spice.
Total Aroma Score: 17 points.
FLAVOR
Balance:
5/5 pts. After decanting, the alcohol subsided and let me enjoy the wine. This wine is very complex with many flavors in the taste.
Taste/Flavors detected:
23/25 pts. Wow! What an explosion of flavor. Many, many layers. The fruit is very bold and dark. It's sweet and acidic at the same time. I taste cherry and raspberry briefly before the jammy sweetness takes over. But then the bold tannins push back the sweet. It's an exciting mouthful. There are after tastes of smoke, vanilla, burnt wood, dark, dark chocolate.
Taste Intensity:
10/10 pts. Perfect in the taste intensity category!
Total Flavor Score: 38 points.
BODY AND FINISH
Body/Texture:
19/20 pts. Great texture. Not gritty or coarse. It is bold, but smooth.
Length of Finish:
8/10 pts. Great finish. There are flavors that carry to 1 minute mark.
Total Finish Score: 27 points.
TOTAL SCORE: 92 points.
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1/15/2014 - SLR204 wrote: 93 Points
Popped and poured and was great from the get go, but really improved with a few hours of air. Was fun experiencing the wine evolve over the evening. Somewhat muted nose of cherry, red apple, leather and funky earth. But on the palate, wow! Delicious, old world Rhone style with integrated flavors of earth, leather, red cherry, candied apple, stewed plums, chinese five spice, some cranberry, tobacco, black licorice stick, even eucalyptus and ending with graphite. Drinking beautifully now with mellowed tannins. Medium bodied with enough acidity to pair well with pork loin and red cabbage, and was great on its own after dinner as it gained weight and complexity. Medium long finish. Glad I have a few more.
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1/1/2014 - AMC Eagle wrote: 93 Points
90 minute decant. Medium red brick in appearance; a very nice mature CdP. Attractive nose of some raspberries, red licorice, some hints of Belgian candy sugar. Still can detect some tannins along with the red and black fruits complemented with some leathery black licorice and some herbs. Nice medium-long finish and this can probably evolve some more for an extra 3-5 years.
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12/30/2013 - Tim and Bonnie wrote: 92 Points
I handled this bottle more gently based on my previous experience. I stood it on its base for a couple hours, then poured carefully into the decanter and managed to keep almost all the powdery lees in the bottle. Then we allowed it to stand undisturbed in the sealed carafe for 2.5 hours.
Paired with braised beef ribs in wine sauce this bottle added the perfect compliment and matched the bold gravy zing of the dish with its solid tannins, minerals, red fruit, and some zip of its own. This is the "twang" Bonnie called out on the first bottle and caused her to go 88 while I went 90. Well, tonight without the cluttering of the sediment she got the real experience of this wine and gave it a 92. I agree. Good call, Hon!
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12/20/2013 - Tim and Bonnie Likes this wine: 90 Points
Bonnie's going 88 and I'm going 90, and that's significant because, as we've stated before, 90 is a crossover score for us. It means we think the wine is really good and would definitely buy again, but you have to fight for the 90 on this one, as you'll read further down. It has a new cork as well, not sure what that means on a ten year old wine, maybe came from the bottom of the barrel?
If you've experienced much Chateauneuf de Pape you understand the CDP nose. I call it candy nose, and I love it. Bonnie loves the nose on this but says the wine has a bit of a twang that keeps her from going above 88, and I agree, but I appreciate the flavors and think the sediment is contributing to the twang, so sticking with 90. To help balance the argument, I've learned over time that Bonnie has what I would call an innocent and pure palete. She doesn't always understand exactly what's going on, but she pretty much nails it, in my estimation, with her judgment of wine. She knows good wine. But this bottle appeals to me so sticking with the 90, although Bonnie's probably right.
Handle carefully to avoid stirring up the powdery sediment.
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1/1/2012 - Pour Boy wrote: 90 Points
Very nice CDP, with classic spice and licorice bouquet and flavors. But clearly a notch below an 03 Font du Michelle Cuvee Etienne Gonnet we tried right before it. Very dry cork on this bottle; the lower half broke off and never separated from the bottle neck, which required us to drain the bottle thru a coffee filter.
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2/8/2009 - pbaek wrote:
2003 CdP tasting at Rothmann's Steakhouse, New York. Served alongside the Clos des Papes, this comes across as a more structured and fresh wine. Josh and Asher find a lot of new oak here, I am not sure. The fruit is sweet and jammy and the length is ok. Ultimately, it is not a very interesting wine at this stage.
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