My last bottle. Still holding up very well, this opens up with funky, animal nose. Lots of character on the palate, still plenty of red cherry fruit, pure and focused as usual for Charvin. Some tertiary notes of sois-bois and earth. Lovely friend to have for 15 years.
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From magnum. Still going strong. Light red color, funky/horsey nose, nice core of light red fruit along with tertiary flavors on the palate. There is nothing 2003 about this wine. This has never had a closed moment. Tremendous wine.
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Still youthful, this opens up with a funky, farmy, red-fruited nose. I've always liked the very obvious Grenache character of this wine, the fruit is pure, round and concentrated with marks of kirsch and framboise, not at all over the top, just very charming. There is a gentle marks of spices and earth underneath, but the fruit is still on top. Great wine, no rush.
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Consistent with previous notes. Just a fantastic wine featuring beautiful, transparent cherry fruit and plenty of soil notes. Outstanding given the context of the vintage.
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What is so great about this wine is how it transcends everything Grenache is about. A wonderfully aromatic nose of flowers, kirsch and soil leads on to a restrained palate of all sorts of red fruits, cherry, strawberry, raspberry a faint hint of animal fur and soil. We are 9 years in here and this wine is still so young and full of vibrant fruit. Really impressive and plenty of life left.
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Have to write a short note because this is just so good. Potentially the best Cotes du Rhone Charvin has ever made. Everything is in balance here, the fruit is pure and fresh, penetrating, kept in check by the acidity and the tannins. The mark from the soil is obvious. Not a profound wound by any means, but just so pleasing so reassuring.
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A young showing compared to recent bottles and, as usual, a wine that delivers. Wonderful red cherry fruit, flowers and earthy marks. Impressive how this wine is holding up. Another 5 years left.
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A good dose of farmyard smells and Rhone funk on the nose along with tart cherry fruit and earth. Very distinct palate of sour cherry fruit, spices and earthy flavors. Very well contained and still going strong. Even better on the second night with firmer, prettier cherry and raspberry fruit and minerals. Will keep.
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Great vintage for Charvin's Cotes du Rhone. Apparent farmyard on the nose and dried, ripe cherry fruit. Excellent mark from the soil, this is a pure, unadulterated wine. Love it.
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This wine continue to move along towards full maturity but still shows beautiful red cherry fruit along with farmyard notes. Pure and delightful as usual. From my last case in France. Will drink the rest over the next 3-5 years.
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Like meeting a good friend. Still in splendid form, this wine, showing ripe cherry/raspberry/strawberry fruit with earthy flavors in a well contained frame. I still think Laurent Charvin made outstanding wine in 2003 and while the Cotes du Rhone is excellent for drinking now and 5+ years on, the Chateauneuf du Pape needs time for the fruit to settle. Nothing is overdone here, just a great vin de plaisir.
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From magnum. I love this wine. Now at a stage where there is farmyard and crushed, dried red cherries on the nose. A bit more expressive and opulent compared to the 2004, but not hot or raisiny. Distinct mineral flavors on the palate, great sense of place. Will last another 5+ years.
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The first bottle from my last case. The 2003 continue to show great purity of fruit in an elegant, refined way. The cherry/raspberry fruit is still in the forefront but secondary flavors are beginning to evolve underneath the surface. There's farmyard and a disctinct minerality here. It's such a pleasure to drink a wine which is free from oak and other make-up - Grenache as it is expressed in Laurent's soil. Love it.
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Previous bottles consumed this year indicated that secondary notes of barnyard and earth were beginning to show up and the same holds true for this bottle. A bit of funk on the nose, but there is still a lot of delicious cherry and raspberry fruit running through. What came as a big surprise to me was that after a night in the fridge, the funkiness was totally gone and what was left was very pure, concentrated, sweet Grenache. The fruit had firmed up overnight and stood much clearer and brighter on day 2. To me, an indicator that the wine is still oh so young. Wow, an incredible wine for the money. Another 5 years left easily. The good 03s in the Southern Rhone are really outstanding.
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I am coming down to my last case of this excellent effort. This wine is turning a corner now - it is no longer just showing pure, ripe cherry fruit, secondary flavors of barnyard, earth and spices have entered the picture and the cherry flavors have moved towards macerated cherries. It's a beautiful, pure expression of Grenache and the wine continue to move along nicely. I'm curious to find out how this will taste in a few years from now. Would have easily smoked a bunch of the 2003 Chateauneufs we tasted at Rothmann's Steakhouse last Sunday.
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Laurent Charvin made excellent wine in 2003. His Cotes du Rhone has never let me down. Very pure in its expression of Grenache and by no means marked by the hot vintage, this is an awesome wine for the money. It's a lighter style Cotes du Rhone (some would say Burgundian), fresh, delicate and in perfect balance. The wine is marked by sweet cherry flavors, spices and perhaps some earthy notes now. Will continue to evolve, but drinks well now.
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Mmm, just delicious. After a day of huge, meaty Chateauneuf-du-Pape, this was light, vibrant, loaded with raspberry and garrigue. Somewhat more simple and clean. Drinking perfectly right now.
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Wonderful bottle of wine. Soft red in color with a great nose full of cherry, herbs and spice. Well rounded on the finish with cherry and plum flavors.
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From magnum. Still surprisingly primary considering the forward quality of the vintage. Anise, plums, and a grippy attack that softens with time. Full in the mouth, but a bit simple compared to the CdP and short on the finish, this is still a GREAT QPR. Quite the crowd pleaser.
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Our third (or fourth?) go round on this one. Hasn't disappointed yet. Extremely potent. Strong cigar wrapper. A hard-to-define mineral note as well, chaulk? An oddball, but a great one.
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This wine is not ready to drink...very astringent and tannic, give it several more years to mature and hope the Al from 03 doesn't overwhelm the fruit...
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Suspiciously heavy on the alcohol, so I'm not going to score. I'm guessing this was cooked somewhere along the way. It softened and improved to be drinkable by day 3.
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You could smell this as soon as the cork was popped: Red fruit, earth, vanilla, a little menthol, all of which carried through to the palatte. While it was a bit tannic upon opening, this did soften up nicely with about 30 minutes of air time. Served at a Costa Rican restaurant (BYOB), it had the heft for a sirloin, and a the finesse for seafood dishes. $13.99 sale price at Binny's makes this an almost comically good bargain.
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Quite challenging for a CdR. On day 1, hard wooly tannins were keeping this wine down. But it's far better on the 2nd day -- with lots of swirling there is a wonderful nose of dark berries, cherry, and earth. My roommate says there's some creme de cacao as well but I think that's a stretch. On the palate, black cherry, herbs/garrigue, and a slightly bitter tar flavor (not unpleasant), with chewy tannins that are firm but far less wooly than on day 1. This either needs another year in the cellar or LOTS of air to be enjoyable. 89 points now but with considerable upside.
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Tasted at the domaine. Showed better than a previous bottle (see TN). Plummy, earthy, ripe and round. Impressive CdR. Charvin's CdR vineyard surrounds his domaine and starts just across a small road which seperates the Chateauneuf / CdR boundary.
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Very nice wild barnyardy and warm fruity aromatics, combined with lush fruit and enough structure to keep this interesting. Will be better with one to two years of bottle age.
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Drank before the Chateauneuf 2001, a great wine, prize quality it's a better buy. Complex, black pepper, starts with red fruit ,.... star of the evening with Chinese food.
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Unfiltered. Big and powerful with a lot of fruit and good tannis. Has a bit of an unpleasent bite in the tongue. Air helps, but also closes it down a bit.
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Earth and cherries. Herbs and cherries. Spice and cherries. The cherries just don't quit. This was open over 3 days and held up nicely. Not overly dry. Balanced acidity. Persistent fruit.
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Lovely young CdR. Nice ripe fruit combined with a bit of barnyard packaged together nicely. Thick chewy texture and decently long finish. I like this and will pick up a few more at $15.
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$17 retail, after discount. No formal note. Despite having a good concentration of red fruit, this seemed a bit monolithic and a tad hot to me. Still quite enjoyable, though.
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Decanted for 45 minutes. Light to medium-bodied wine that is clear, medium ruby in color. On the nose, cherries, white pepper, and a whiff of alcohol. On the palate, loads of kirsch and some white pepper (no heat though). A whole lot of chalky, mouth-drying tannins take center stage in a long finish that lasts 20-30 seconds. I wanted to like this wine even more than I ultimately did...but the tannins are just a bit too unforgiving for my liking (and I'm pretty tannin-tolerant!). Not really a QPR for ~$20.
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Darn, this is a delicious bottle of wine. Young, unusually ripe for a Côtes du Rhône, this is nonetheless a wonderfully dry mouthful of Grenache, surprisingly structured, with loads of sweet herbs and garrigue. I think these need some time to settle down, and this is a bit astringent on the finish, but I also think this will drink younger than the 2001 of the same wine. Very nice!
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Solid CDR profile with some tannic astringency to it. Paired well with mustard crumb pork chops and garlic/parmesan mashed potatoes. Give this a year or two to settle down and hopefully the tannins will smooth out some.
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6/4/2020 - pbaek wrote:
My last bottle. Still holding up very well, this opens up with funky, animal nose. Lots of character on the palate, still plenty of red cherry fruit, pure and focused as usual for Charvin. Some tertiary notes of sois-bois and earth. Lovely friend to have for 15 years.
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4/16/2016 - pbaek wrote:
From magnum. Still going strong. Light red color, funky/horsey nose, nice core of light red fruit along with tertiary flavors on the palate. There is nothing 2003 about this wine. This has never had a closed moment. Tremendous wine.
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6/28/2014 - pbaek wrote:
Still youthful, this opens up with a funky, farmy, red-fruited nose. I've always liked the very obvious Grenache character of this wine, the fruit is pure, round and concentrated with marks of kirsch and framboise, not at all over the top, just very charming. There is a gentle marks of spices and earth underneath, but the fruit is still on top. Great wine, no rush.
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12/16/2013 - AlexHop wrote: flawed
Seemed badly corked.
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11/1/2013 - Easter Everywhere wrote:
starts fruity, manure, funk, some brett, gets funky & hot w/air
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11/23/2012 - pbaek wrote:
Consistent with previous notes. Just a fantastic wine featuring beautiful, transparent cherry fruit and plenty of soil notes. Outstanding given the context of the vintage.
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9/9/2012 - pbaek wrote:
What is so great about this wine is how it transcends everything Grenache is about. A wonderfully aromatic nose of flowers, kirsch and soil leads on to a restrained palate of all sorts of red fruits, cherry, strawberry, raspberry a faint hint of animal fur and soil. We are 9 years in here and this wine is still so young and full of vibrant fruit. Really impressive and plenty of life left.
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6/10/2012 - pbaek wrote:
Have to write a short note because this is just so good. Potentially the best Cotes du Rhone Charvin has ever made. Everything is in balance here, the fruit is pure and fresh, penetrating, kept in check by the acidity and the tannins. The mark from the soil is obvious. Not a profound wound by any means, but just so pleasing so reassuring.
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5/13/2012 - pbaek wrote:
A young showing compared to recent bottles and, as usual, a wine that delivers. Wonderful red cherry fruit, flowers and earthy marks. Impressive how this wine is holding up. Another 5 years left.
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5/3/2012 - humagne wrote: 92 Points
Very intense, spicy and animal nose, some grenache fruit. Wonderful attack, powerful palate, long. Could go as pirate in a C9dP tasting.
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1/18/2012 - pbaek wrote:
A good dose of farmyard smells and Rhone funk on the nose along with tart cherry fruit and earth. Very distinct palate of sour cherry fruit, spices and earthy flavors. Very well contained and still going strong. Even better on the second night with firmer, prettier cherry and raspberry fruit and minerals. Will keep.
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2/19/2011 - pbaek wrote:
Great vintage for Charvin's Cotes du Rhone. Apparent farmyard on the nose and dried, ripe cherry fruit. Excellent mark from the soil, this is a pure, unadulterated wine. Love it.
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8/11/2010 - pbaek wrote:
This wine continue to move along towards full maturity but still shows beautiful red cherry fruit along with farmyard notes. Pure and delightful as usual. From my last case in France. Will drink the rest over the next 3-5 years.
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5/19/2010 - pbaek wrote:
Like meeting a good friend. Still in splendid form, this wine, showing ripe cherry/raspberry/strawberry fruit with earthy flavors in a well contained frame. I still think Laurent Charvin made outstanding wine in 2003 and while the Cotes du Rhone is excellent for drinking now and 5+ years on, the Chateauneuf du Pape needs time for the fruit to settle. Nothing is overdone here, just a great vin de plaisir.
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2/6/2010 - pbaek wrote:
From magnum. I love this wine. Now at a stage where there is farmyard and crushed, dried red cherries on the nose. A bit more expressive and opulent compared to the 2004, but not hot or raisiny. Distinct mineral flavors on the palate, great sense of place. Will last another 5+ years.
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12/18/2009 - pbaek wrote:
The first bottle from my last case. The 2003 continue to show great purity of fruit in an elegant, refined way. The cherry/raspberry fruit is still in the forefront but secondary flavors are beginning to evolve underneath the surface. There's farmyard and a disctinct minerality here. It's such a pleasure to drink a wine which is free from oak and other make-up - Grenache as it is expressed in Laurent's soil. Love it.
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9/25/2009 - pbaek wrote:
Previous bottles consumed this year indicated that secondary notes of barnyard and earth were beginning to show up and the same holds true for this bottle. A bit of funk on the nose, but there is still a lot of delicious cherry and raspberry fruit running through. What came as a big surprise to me was that after a night in the fridge, the funkiness was totally gone and what was left was very pure, concentrated, sweet Grenache. The fruit had firmed up overnight and stood much clearer and brighter on day 2. To me, an indicator that the wine is still oh so young. Wow, an incredible wine for the money. Another 5 years left easily. The good 03s in the Southern Rhone are really outstanding.
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2/13/2009 - pbaek wrote:
I am coming down to my last case of this excellent effort. This wine is turning a corner now - it is no longer just showing pure, ripe cherry fruit, secondary flavors of barnyard, earth and spices have entered the picture and the cherry flavors have moved towards macerated cherries. It's a beautiful, pure expression of Grenache and the wine continue to move along nicely. I'm curious to find out how this will taste in a few years from now. Would have easily smoked a bunch of the 2003 Chateauneufs we tasted at Rothmann's Steakhouse last Sunday.
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2/8/2009 - jacobp wrote: 91 Points
Peppery and earthy tones; nice subtle finish
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12/27/2008 - pbaek wrote:
Laurent Charvin made excellent wine in 2003. His Cotes du Rhone has never let me down. Very pure in its expression of Grenache and by no means marked by the hot vintage, this is an awesome wine for the money. It's a lighter style Cotes du Rhone (some would say Burgundian), fresh, delicate and in perfect balance. The wine is marked by sweet cherry flavors, spices and perhaps some earthy notes now. Will continue to evolve, but drinks well now.
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10/5/2007 - 100pp wrote: 80 Points
Too much leather, stable etc. Not enough fruit. Disappointing
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9/23/2007 - Eric wrote:
Mmm, just delicious. After a day of huge, meaty Chateauneuf-du-Pape, this was light, vibrant, loaded with raspberry and garrigue. Somewhat more simple and clean. Drinking perfectly right now.
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7/1/2007 - MichaelF wrote: 90 Points
Drinking very nicely now. Nice chocolate, floral nose. Red fruit with dusty tannins. Well structured. Elegant.
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6/21/2007 - MarkR wrote: 88 Points
A good CdR, well balanced, smooth, quite a light structure to it. Very enjoyable mid-week drinking.
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3/22/2007 - Love4Vino wrote: 90 Points
Awesome grenache nose, a bit tannic but has lot of fruit back bone. I think this will be really good in another 3-5 years. A good QPR for about $20.
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3/12/2007 - rfras wrote: 90 Points
Wonderful bottle of wine. Soft red in color with a great nose full of cherry, herbs and spice. Well rounded on the finish with cherry and plum flavors.
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10/2/2006 - spidersva wrote:
Very good. Probably worth the extra $$$.
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9/24/2006 - Moorese wrote: 90 Points
From magnum. Still surprisingly primary considering the forward quality of the vintage. Anise, plums, and a grippy attack that softens with time. Full in the mouth, but a bit simple compared to the CdP and short on the finish, this is still a GREAT QPR. Quite the crowd pleaser.
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9/21/2006 - bknysak wrote: 90 Points
Very serious stuff. Great earthy red fruits; tannic, and it seems to obscure some of what is going on underneath. Great potential, though.
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9/12/2006 - BailliSacks wrote: 90 Points
Our third (or fourth?) go round on this one. Hasn't disappointed yet. Extremely potent. Strong cigar wrapper. A hard-to-define mineral note as well, chaulk? An oddball, but a great one.
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9/4/2006 - mdavis wrote:
This wine is not ready to drink...very astringent and tannic, give it several more years to mature and hope the Al from 03 doesn't overwhelm the fruit...
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9/1/2006 - GlenD wrote: flawed
Suspiciously heavy on the alcohol, so I'm not going to score. I'm guessing this was cooked somewhere along the way. It softened and improved to be drinkable by day 3.
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8/27/2006 - jmull wrote: 90 Points
You could smell this as soon as the cork was popped: Red fruit, earth, vanilla, a little menthol, all of which carried through to the palatte. While it was a bit tannic upon opening, this did soften up nicely with about 30 minutes of air time. Served at a Costa Rican restaurant (BYOB), it had the heft for a sirloin, and a the finesse for seafood dishes. $13.99 sale price at Binny's makes this an almost comically good bargain.
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8/2/2006 - thijsseg wrote: 90 Points
top
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7/13/2006 - 5laton wrote: 89 Points
Quite challenging for a CdR. On day 1, hard wooly tannins were keeping this wine down. But it's far better on the 2nd day -- with lots of swirling there is a wonderful nose of dark berries, cherry, and earth. My roommate says there's some creme de cacao as well but I think that's a stretch. On the palate, black cherry, herbs/garrigue, and a slightly bitter tar flavor (not unpleasant), with chewy tannins that are firm but far less wooly than on day 1. This either needs another year in the cellar or LOTS of air to be enjoyable. 89 points now but with considerable upside.
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7/2/2006 - thijsseg wrote: 90 Points
very good
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6/17/2006 - Siggy wrote:
France Trip Part 1 - Châteauneuf-du-Pape; 6/16/2006-6/17/2006: Tasted at the domaine w/ Laurent Charvin. Youthful ruby. Soft cherry and plum fruit, with some earth. Very good.
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6/17/2006 - Ben Andersen wrote:
Tasted at the domaine. Showed better than a previous bottle (see TN). Plummy, earthy, ripe and round. Impressive CdR. Charvin's CdR vineyard surrounds his domaine and starts just across a small road which seperates the Chateauneuf / CdR boundary.
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5/4/2006 - Jozefs wrote: 91 Points
Very nice wild barnyardy and warm fruity aromatics, combined with lush fruit and enough structure to keep this interesting. Will be better with one to two years of bottle age.
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4/30/2006 - thijsseg wrote: 90 Points
Gedronken na Clos du caillou 2001 CDP. Komt dan tekort maar blijft een zeer goede wijn.
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2/3/2006 - thijsseg wrote: 92 Points
Drank before the Chateauneuf 2001, a great wine, prize quality it's a better buy. Complex, black pepper, starts with red fruit ,.... star of the evening with Chinese food.
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1/31/2006 - gorm wrote: 88 Points
Unfiltered. Big and powerful with a lot of fruit and good tannis. Has a bit of an unpleasent bite in the tongue. Air helps, but also closes it down a bit.
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1/16/2006 - GlenD wrote: 90 Points
Earth and cherries. Herbs and cherries. Spice and cherries. The cherries just don't quit. This was open over 3 days and held up nicely. Not overly dry. Balanced acidity. Persistent fruit.
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1/15/2006 - thijsseg wrote: 91 Points
Wonderfull wine, i like Charvin and Clos du Caillou the most.... nice nose, you get what you smell.
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1/10/2006 - thijsseg wrote: 90 Points
Heerlijke neus, kruidig, eerder zachte wijn. Mooie Rhone prijs/kwaliteit; 9,95eur detailhandel (Belgie); 6,60eur wijndomein
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1/9/2006 - KRB wrote: 89 Points
Lovely young CdR. Nice ripe fruit combined with a bit of barnyard packaged together nicely. Thick chewy texture and decently long finish. I like this and will pick up a few more at $15.
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1/7/2006 - Eric wrote: 91 Points
Wow, this has really settled down in the last three months. A huge mouthful of ripe raspberry and garrigue, this is simply delicious wine!
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12/25/2005 - Ben Andersen wrote:
$17 retail, after discount. No formal note. Despite having a good concentration of red fruit, this seemed a bit monolithic and a tad hot to me. Still quite enjoyable, though.
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10/13/2005 - DFC wrote: 88 Points
Decanted for 45 minutes. Light to medium-bodied wine that is clear, medium ruby in color. On the nose, cherries, white pepper, and a whiff of alcohol. On the palate, loads of kirsch and some white pepper (no heat though). A whole lot of chalky, mouth-drying tannins take center stage in a long finish that lasts 20-30 seconds. I wanted to like this wine even more than I ultimately did...but the tannins are just a bit too unforgiving for my liking (and I'm pretty tannin-tolerant!). Not really a QPR for ~$20.
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9/5/2005 - Eric wrote: 89 Points
Darn, this is a delicious bottle of wine. Young, unusually ripe for a Côtes du Rhône, this is nonetheless a wonderfully dry mouthful of Grenache, surprisingly structured, with loads of sweet herbs and garrigue. I think these need some time to settle down, and this is a bit astringent on the finish, but I also think this will drink younger than the 2001 of the same wine. Very nice!
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8/17/2005 - ScottG wrote: 88 Points
Solid CDR profile with some tannic astringency to it. Paired well with mustard crumb pork chops and garlic/parmesan mashed potatoes. Give this a year or two to settle down and hopefully the tannins will smooth out some.
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