drank with Bernhardt's and Pepper's. Good color preservation still medium red at the edge with a darkish center. Nose was slightly influenced by the heat but not oxidized. A bit softer than normal. Good concentration and balance with a medium length finish. Close to mature.
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Still very good, but past it's peak now. Mature, but still with lots of fruit and meat juice flavors, maroon edges, sweet floral nose. Not as lively or fresh tasting as our last three bottles. Medium bodied and very smooth, good as a sipper but better with a steak. Drink up if you have them.
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Ok, no formal note here, but having opened the 04 prestige less than 2 weeks prior, this was tasting vastly better. Where the 04 tasted tired, frustrating, stewed, and was one of those bottles that made me question the viability of grenache in chateauneuf, this wine was far more digestible and balanced, despite its size. I will concur with other TNs that it didn’t register as a delightful drink but my expectations weren’t outlandish to begin with. This has been a favourite chateauneuf bottling of mine for years but am certainly out of the honeymoon phase with this village.
Drink or hold to 2026 14.5% abv
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Older rather common CdP from a big producer, showing well for 2003, lighter color with fading, nothing special but enjoyable. Duckhouse w/Yarom and group
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Very nice. Highly perfumed nose, beautiful aromas of red berries and a bit of tar. Good acidity and doesn't fall apart like some C9P. Long finish. In a very good drinking spot now. Coravin and drank right away...
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Similar notes to recent tasters. This wine has really opened up since the last time we tried it. Now it has the traditional CDP nose and palate. A great food wine that we enjoyed with our leg of lamb. This wine is in a very good spot.
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-- decanted 30 minutes before initial taste -- -- tasted non-blind over a few hours --
NOSE: medium-strong aromas; definitely smells aged --- baked dark fruits; mesquite; a touch earthy; not funky.
BODY: dark ruby color of medium-deep depth, with bricking throughout; sediment present; {forgot to note weight}.
TASTE: tertiary red/purple fruits; strong earthy element; leather; no brett; still some tannins sticking around; light garrigué; medium to medium+ acidity; 14.5% alc. is a little noticeable; this is very good, and is probably in the middle or back end of its prime drink window. My gut impression score of 90-91 was a touch low. Ashley's gut impression score is 89.
50, 5, 12, 17, 8 = 92
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High neck fill bottle with a pristine cork that was saturated a dark plum. Good plum color with light bricking. Immediately very aromatic after opening. Aromas were similar to baked blackberry and raspberry pie, a bit of camphor, pepper, and lilac. On the palate this starts with fresh and driven acidity, modestly drying tannins move into the mid-palate where blackberries and blueberries nestle in before the pepper punctuates the finish.
Fresh and focused. Drink or hold.
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From Mag. Rose and fell, expanded and contracted through the course of the evening, all the while showing off a svelte harmony. With no decant, as lovely on its own as with yogurt-marinated baby-backs. Unlikely to improve from here.
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The last of three bottles I recently purchased. Better than the bottle I had in February, but not quite as good as the one I had in December. Good color and fragrant nose. Nice overall balance with a smooth feel, ripe (but not overripe) dark fruits, and some remaining structure. Not as complex as the bottle I had in December, but very good overall. I think this wine still has several years of life ahead of it.
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Plum and black raspberry aromas, with integrated flavors that put on a little weight and alcohol with extended airing. Avoided the roasted character common with many 03 CdP's - a nice showing.
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This bottle was not as good as the one I had in December. The color and nose were great and plenty of ripe fruit on the palate, but the finish was shorter and a little harsh and the wine was not as well balanced.
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Re taste. I dreaded opening this based upon the last bad bottle. Similar notes here with distinct and worse brettiness. I'm scoring this on this occasion due to it being consistently bad. 68
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A wonderful wine. Beautiful color and fragrant nose. It was a bit tight at first, but opened up nicely after 45 minutes. Ripe fruit and velvety finish, but with some backbone. Drinking well now, but still has plenty of life ahead of it.
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Class and elegance. Depth of flavor that encompasses fruit and flesh. A little meaty and metallic, savory and herbal notes, dark/red fruit. Good concentration and light finish, light acid. Very well integrated tannins, with some lingering grip. Drinking well at this stage with at least a hour decant.
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At a great drinking stage. For 14.5% alcohol this is balanced and understated. Beautifully mature but not overripe. Fruit is still vibrant along with some minerals and gamey notes of leather.
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Drinking well right from bottle. Beautiful bricking red. Ripe cherries and game. Tastes like it could be 100% Grenache. Though this is not my favorite style of CDP, it's a good example of the style.
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Drank this with Turkey pie post-Christmas. First bottle I couldn't really taste because of a cold. Still had a bit of a cold when I tried the second bottle. Splash decanted. Mid red with some transparency, no evidence of bricking. Nice ripe red cherries on the nose. The palate was smooth with a hint of tannin. Not exceptional but a good drink.
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Can't rate this bottle. Drank Christmas day with Turkey and all the trimmings. Unfortunately I had a stinking head cold and couldn't really taste the wine for the purposes of rating. Tasted ok though.
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Some sunset on the edges. Some funk upon opening. Some funk three hours later. On the palate, this is sharp with quite bit of grip. Roasted coffee and caramelized cherry. Hard to drink. Strong alcohol. This is either flawed or lousy - perhaps vintage cooked. Based upon other notes, I'm assuming flawed. If I were rating, this is a 70, but I'll mark it flawed pending my next bottle.
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Drank with Crosses. Lovely and complex, great life left on this, but really drinking well. Decanted for an hour ahead, probably hit peak drinking 2 hrs in. Love the subtlety of these aged Rhones.
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Nose: Blackberry, Plum, Licorice, Fig Sauce and Old Leather. Palate: Blackberry, Cassis, Plum and Raspberry on the attack, and the mid-palate gets garrigue, underbrush and cured meat notes. The palate weight is dense with a polished feel. Finish: Dark Fruits, Cedar, Cured Meats and a nice leathery gamey note. Great CDP that has a CA personality up front with nice traditional rhone on the back end. I may be underscoring this.
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Deep ruby. A beautiful nose of dark cherry and raspberries, provencal herbs- lavender and thyme really, plum, and some rare meat. Really quite perfumed and fresh with absolutely no overripeness or heat. On the palate, this is supple and texturally beautiful, with an expansive palate presence: and I mean that in the best way. Rich yet not heavy, extremely well balanced, clean, and pure. This has ripe tannins that add grip without any unripe pip feel, adding to the impressive length. A beautiful expression of Grenache drinking wonderfully now and in no risk of decline. Incredibly drinkable. 93pts
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Opened and poured. Nose: A bit muted at first but opened up to potpourri, red meat, and some red fruit. On the palate, it's medium-bodied with pomegranate, rasberry, mineral, oregano. The wine went very nicely with the ribeye and sauteed onions, red bliss potatoes. It's a restrained style that is very different than the '03 Saint Prefer Charles Giraud which was more concentrated and fruit dominated characteristics.
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--- COLOR: Garnet w/med-garnet brick at rim NOTE: This bottle was purchased from a retailer in OWC and never opened for 5 years. I recently opened the case and found the wine had been heat/cold damaged as it had leaked quite a bit inside the case. MAD!!! Word to the wise: If you buy wines in OWC be sure to inspect them at the point of sale. This case went from the retailer to my wine locker, so I know it wasn't something I did. I can't go back 5 years later and tell them you sold me crap. Anyway, lesson learned. You can see my score below, but I don't think it's fair to put an actual CT score in light of the aforementioned abuse. Nose is nice Amarena cherries and pomagranate liqueur, some herbs de Provence and a bit of dried tobacco. Has a nice liqueur quality to the mouth, where loads of black cherry/plum preserves are dolloped on top of a charcoal briquette. Some strong minerality takes hold and becomes more dominant in the finish. Alcohol also flares up and this really disrupts the finish. I though the tannins were in a good place so I'm surprised to see tasting notes that complain about how hefty they are. Sure, they're there, but they're smooth and resolved. If this was a truly tannic wine then after 5 years I should have had some sediment in the bottle and found NONE. Not a stitch. Nada. Zip. Zero. Very unusual for any red wine this old. So anyone complaining about tannins is probably confusing one sensation with something else.
Wow! This is good CDP. Spicy nose and body of cherries, plums, and a hint of licorice. Really evolves after decanting. Enjoyed with grilled chicken, garden fresh green beans, and baked yam. Our only complaint is the 14.5% ABV.
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Decanted for about 3 hours before drinking. It continued to evolve as we drank it over the next hour. At first there was an unusual but not objectional component on the mid-palate. I can't identify it but it was rather savory. This component softened later on. I did not find the tannin too high, possibly owing to the long decant. Overall enjoyable but I won't rush out looking for more.
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Note from last June still very appropriate with this bottle (including the very spongy cork). Powerful extraction and a slightly awkward alcohol burn still in evidence. Heady, perhaps a litte more mulchy with a bit of a baked character coming through. Drinking now tho you feel it still needs time. Not 100% that the balance is here for a long life however.
EDIT +24 hours. I'm very conscious that this wine has been slipping in my estimation over the past couple of years. I think the key thing is that the youthful roar of the fruit has faded somewhat leaving a lot of alcohol and tannic structure. Perhaps its in an awkward place right now - if those tannins and the burn can integrate over the next 3 or 4 years then it may wel go up again in my estimation, but still concerns over that 2003 acidity. After 24 hours or so it has slightly settled butis still brazenly chewy and tannic. Time will tell?
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Very green still and it opened up slower than we drank it. I will decant this wine if I open another bottle any time soon. The underlying taste was good, light and airy at first and it thickened the longer the bottle was open. Good balance. It could rate much higher with more patience.
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Splash decant. Lovely deep, but bright, ruby in the glass, throwing extremely fine threads. Very big nose of red fruit, brush and a good whiff of fine oak. Attack is extremely big and ripe although low acidity and big alcohol throws off the balance a bit. Very big structure apparent as it moves to a dry finish with som bruising tannins. A wine of 2 halves then. Nose and attack shows a big, rich and concentrated wine where the finish is all aggressive and slightly unresolved tannins. Really needs some acidity to give it a lift (low acidity is a curse of the vintage), but would be perfect on a cold winter night in front of the fire. Needs time for those tannins to soften, but concerns over whether there is enough acidity to allow it to get there.
A note on corks here - every bottle I've tried has had a very spongy and porous cork. No nasty side effects here but may impact long term ageing (along with the low acidity noted above).
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This was a solid little wine. Yes, a fairly "modern", simple CdP, but what CdP isn't these days? Not choking on its own ripeness like some, especially in this vintage, and a pretty pleasant package overall.
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Totally disagree with recent notes on this wine. It is, IMHO, in an outstanding zone. Nose of light red fruit. Sweet raspberry followed by leather and game. High alcohol content, so beware. I drank slight more than half over 3 hours and have a slight headache this morning, but wow, was it good. Will update second (almost) half tonight.
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Sabon Prestige/Secret Vertical (Restaurant AOC): Nose: Mature fruit, black currant/dark plum, coffee and a little manure. Palate: Light plum flavors and a little to hard acidity. Seems unbalanced and irrelevant.
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A decent but pretty bland and non-descript wine, which has neither opulent fruit nor any complexity or elegance. It showed no particular evolution for better, worse or different over about 5 hours. I would have picked it for a decent $12 Cotes du Rhone had I tried it blind. I'm not sure whether it's going to improve or not, but maybe I caught it in a transitional closed phase, and in any event I don't see any reason not to wait a few years on my next one since it's pretty forgettable at this stage.
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Bit of a surprise....very nice and open, great fruit presence, not any Brett...not sure I would have said CNdP in a blind tasting, and considering how hot 2003 was, this is a nicely balanced wine
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Ok a word of warning to start with. this bottle had been kept in the open (cabinets were full!) and the capsule had been well and truly shredded, probably by mice... There were signs that the wine was starting to seep through the cork so I was a little concerned as to what this may do to it. So bear in mind there may be some unusual side effects/air contamination going on here. However...
Opened, decanted and dived straight in. First impression on the nose is surprise - is this really a young CDP?! Smelled an awful lot like someone had siphoned it off and dumped half a bottle of merlot in there - very soft but pleasant with a detecatable spiciness. Colour is good and not too dense - I think we have all gotten used to blockbusting great super-extracted monsters from the Rhone in 2003, but this is built less like the Pontypridd front row than many.
The attack dispels most (but not all!) of those lingering merlot doubts. This is fantastically well balanced with a real whack of ripe black fruit and lovely soft tanins with just enough acidity to stop it from being limp and lifeless. Plenty of oak in here and a great spicy medium finish with wild brush and pepper.
Now I don't know if this bottle is non-representative due to the storage concern, and I don't know if this just hits my palate but it hit the spot for m e. 93 points. Have another 10 (fortunately stored a little better) so will be interesting to see if this is in it for the long haul like many 2003s.
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Closed. Revisit in 3-4 years. Right now it is still enjoyable, but nothing special. Elegant and fruity....but the volume on aroma and flavor complexity are really turned down.
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An elegant, feminine Chateauneuf du Pape. Blackberry, black olive, fresh herbs, white pepper, and vanilla are all in tune. Light minerality lingers on the finish, enhancing the black olive note. Very nice. If there is a flaw, I would say it is that the fruit is too plump and ripe (or perhaps, equivalently, the acidity is too low). My preference would be for less black fruit (though this wine is by no means a fruit bomb). Ruby color--could be mistaken for a pinot noir in the glass. Medium bodied, moderate tannins. Not a particularly highly extracted wine. I'd say drink now or soon.
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Young--two hours decanting was not enough to open this up. Aromas of powdered coco and black cherry ice cream were followed by revolving crescents of layered berries, espresso, raspberry seeds, and citrus. Lovely and dense but distant.
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A Night of Chateauneuf in Edina, MN (Edina Country Club): I tasted this wine at a CdP offline on 12/30/2007, in Edina, MN. (All wines were tasting blind, in a random order. References such as "Blind 3" or "Blind 4" have been replaced with the wines' actual names)
NOSE: bouquet on this is a vast departure from that of the 2003 Janasse Chaupin. This nose is much softer - kind of like smelling a chalky cottonball. Light nose - a touch perfumy.
Double decanted 2 hours before. Very approachable for such youthful age. Cherry and meat notes predominate as expected but tannins intigrate nicely with time. Try one now if you have a few.
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Tasted one of the case to see how it was now. This is a good CDP, well rounded but needs time. One the second day it was much better so that seems to bear out the need for aging. Try again in a year or 2.
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Color: Medium purple Nose: Mineral, cranberry Taste: Barnyard, mineral, sour cherry Finish: A little thin on this medium finish Evaluation: Disappointing wine compared to most of the others. 88 points
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Woodland Hills Wine: Hard candy nose, licorice, caramel, CREME BRULEE! Underlying cherry and a certain candy/liquor I can’t put my finger on--gried fig? amaretto? Super smth entry, full bod, well int. t’s and fret & soft spice w/glycerin fin. Grt character!
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5/18/2023 - S.Hilmand wrote: 89 Points
A little heat - but drinkwotrthy
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8/13/2022 - Montecalvo wrote: 90 Points
drank with Bernhardt's and Pepper's. Good color preservation still medium red at the edge with a darkish center. Nose was slightly influenced by the heat but not oxidized. A bit softer than normal. Good concentration and balance with a medium length finish. Close to mature.
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12/21/2021 - europat55 wrote: 90 Points
1998-2007 Roger Sabon Chateauneuf du Pape (blind tasting) (Virtual Tasting): Nose: 91; Palate: 89
My #6, Group's #5 (79 pts). Tasted blind.
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12/4/2021 - wine4ever wrote:
Still very good, but past it's peak now. Mature, but still with lots of fruit and meat juice flavors, maroon edges, sweet floral nose. Not as lively or fresh tasting as our last three bottles. Medium bodied and very smooth, good as a sipper but better with a steak. Drink up if you have them.
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9/3/2021 - Tony Molester wrote:
Ok, no formal note here, but having opened the 04 prestige less than 2 weeks prior, this was tasting vastly better. Where the 04 tasted tired, frustrating, stewed, and was one of those bottles that made me question the viability of grenache in chateauneuf, this wine was far more digestible and balanced, despite its size. I will concur with other TNs that it didn’t register as a delightful drink but my expectations weren’t outlandish to begin with. This has been a favourite chateauneuf bottling of mine for years but am certainly out of the honeymoon phase with this village.
Drink or hold to 2026
14.5% abv
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7/15/2021 - PLiu wrote:
I concur with some of the other recent comments: nothing special but enjoyable, pretty run of the mill, drink now.
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7/14/2021 - LZ wrote: 89 Points
Drink soon
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3/13/2021 - awitz78 Likes this wine: 91 Points
90 day 1 91 day 2. Pretty flat first night. Developed more character and structure second night.
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11/15/2020 - peternelson wrote: 89 Points
Older rather common CdP from a big producer, showing well for 2003, lighter color with fading, nothing special but enjoyable. Duckhouse w/Yarom and group
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4/2/2020 - bobbylion Likes this wine: 91 Points
Very nice. Highly perfumed nose, beautiful aromas of red berries and a bit of tar. Good acidity and doesn't fall apart like some C9P. Long finish. In a very good drinking spot now. Coravin and drank right away...
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6/22/2019 - wine4ever Likes this wine: 91 Points
Similar notes to last time. Still in a very good spot. Lighter, elegant, plenty of fruity, good balance. Nice food wine and a good sipper.
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10/25/2018 - nywine68 wrote: 90 Points
Chocolate and plums. Round and voluptuous. A touch of heat but not distracting. Decent structure left.
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7/7/2018 - COWineLover wrote: 89 Points
Similar to a bottle consumed 18 months ago though a slight decline in vibrancy and acidity.
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4/26/2018 - europat55 wrote: 92 Points
2003 Chateauenuf du Papes (Tom's house in Palo Alto, California): Nose: A- Palate: B++/A-
My #3, Group's #3 (87 pts) Tasted blind.
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10/8/2017 - wine4ever Likes this wine: 91 Points
Similar notes to recent tasters. This wine has really opened up since the last time we tried it. Now it has the traditional CDP nose and palate. A great food wine that we enjoyed with our leg of lamb. This wine is in a very good spot.
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8/3/2017 - europat55 wrote: 91 Points
Nose (B++/A-). Outstanding palate (B++).
My #2, Group's #6 (60 pts). Tasted blind.
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4/1/2017 - grafstrb wrote: 92 Points
-- decanted 30 minutes before initial taste --
-- tasted non-blind over a few hours --
NOSE: medium-strong aromas; definitely smells aged --- baked dark fruits; mesquite; a touch earthy; not funky.
BODY: dark ruby color of medium-deep depth, with bricking throughout; sediment present; {forgot to note weight}.
TASTE: tertiary red/purple fruits; strong earthy element; leather; no brett; still some tannins sticking around; light garrigué; medium to medium+ acidity; 14.5% alc. is a little noticeable; this is very good, and is probably in the middle or back end of its prime drink window. My gut impression score of 90-91 was a touch low. Ashley's gut impression score is 89.
50, 5, 12, 17, 8 = 92
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1/2/2017 - COWineLover wrote: 91 Points
High neck fill bottle with a pristine cork that was saturated a dark plum. Good plum color with light bricking. Immediately very aromatic after opening. Aromas were similar to baked blackberry and raspberry pie, a bit of camphor, pepper, and lilac. On the palate this starts with fresh and driven acidity, modestly drying tannins move into the mid-palate where blackberries and blueberries nestle in before the pepper punctuates the finish.
Fresh and focused. Drink or hold.
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7/3/2016 - MRE Likes this wine: 90 Points
Mature plums. Powerful. Touch of tar and burned coffee. Spices. Still bite in the tannins. Drinks well now.
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6/24/2016 - sbern Likes this wine: 92 Points
Smooth, delicious, in a very good place. My guess is this won't improve much more, so drink in the near future.
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6/18/2016 - Rollerball wrote: 92 Points
From Mag. Rose and fell, expanded and contracted through the course of the evening, all the while showing off a svelte harmony. With no decant, as lovely on its own as with yogurt-marinated baby-backs. Unlikely to improve from here.
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2/11/2016 - bcg14 wrote: 90 Points
A little less fruit this time, with a slightly roasted smell, but went great with rack of lamb.
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7/31/2015 - CHINACAT wrote: 91 Points
The last of three bottles I recently purchased. Better than the bottle I had in February, but not quite as good as the one I had in December. Good color and fragrant nose. Nice overall balance with a smooth feel, ripe (but not overripe) dark fruits, and some remaining structure. Not as complex as the bottle I had in December, but very good overall. I think this wine still has several years of life ahead of it.
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7/29/2015 - bcg14 wrote: 91 Points
Plum and black raspberry aromas, with integrated flavors that put on a little weight and alcohol with extended airing. Avoided the roasted character common with many 03 CdP's - a nice showing.
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2/22/2015 - jonanator wrote: 90 Points
Same notes as before, good but not great.
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2/6/2015 - CHINACAT wrote: 90 Points
This bottle was not as good as the one I had in December. The color and nose were great and plenty of ripe fruit on the palate, but the finish was shorter and a little harsh and the wine was not as well balanced.
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1/25/2015 - cubswinws Likes this wine: 89 Points
Nice but somewhat simple. Fruit still holding and flavor profile is clean but seems to be fading.
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12/28/2014 - swade wrote: 68 Points
Re taste. I dreaded opening this based upon the last bad bottle. Similar notes here with distinct and worse brettiness. I'm scoring this on this occasion due to it being consistently bad. 68
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12/24/2014 - DoubleMagnum wrote: 89 Points
Alcohol much more pronounced this time around. Last bottle was definitely better.
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12/12/2014 - CHINACAT wrote: 92 Points
A wonderful wine. Beautiful color and fragrant nose. It was a bit tight at first, but opened up nicely after 45 minutes. Ripe fruit and velvety finish, but with some backbone. Drinking well now, but still has plenty of life ahead of it.
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11/26/2014 - jeffal66 Likes this wine: 91 Points
Class and elegance. Depth of flavor that encompasses fruit and flesh. A little meaty and metallic, savory and herbal notes, dark/red fruit. Good concentration and light finish, light acid. Very well integrated tannins, with some lingering grip. Drinking well at this stage with at least a hour decant.
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10/12/2014 - jonanator wrote: 91 Points
Mature and drinking well right now. Nothing outstanding about this wine but it is well made and balanced.
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3/28/2014 - DoubleMagnum wrote: 91 Points
At a great drinking stage. For 14.5% alcohol this is balanced and understated. Beautifully mature but not overripe. Fruit is still vibrant along with some minerals and gamey notes of leather.
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3/13/2014 - Longnose Gar wrote: 90 Points
Drinking well right from bottle. Beautiful bricking red. Ripe cherries and game. Tastes like it could be 100% Grenache. Though this is not my favorite style of CDP, it's a good example of the style.
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1/12/2014 - CRichards Likes this wine:
Very strong, good stuff.
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12/28/2013 - kwaky Likes this wine: 91 Points
Drank this with Turkey pie post-Christmas. First bottle I couldn't really taste because of a cold. Still had a bit of a cold when I tried the second bottle. Splash decanted. Mid red with some transparency, no evidence of bricking. Nice ripe red cherries on the nose. The palate was smooth with a hint of tannin. Not exceptional but a good drink.
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12/25/2013 - kwaky Likes this wine:
Can't rate this bottle. Drank Christmas day with Turkey and all the trimmings. Unfortunately I had a stinking head cold and couldn't really taste the wine for the purposes of rating. Tasted ok though.
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11/27/2013 - swade wrote: flawed
Some sunset on the edges. Some funk upon opening. Some funk three hours later. On the palate, this is sharp with quite bit of grip. Roasted coffee and caramelized cherry. Hard to drink. Strong alcohol. This is either flawed or lousy - perhaps vintage cooked. Based upon other notes, I'm assuming flawed. If I were rating, this is a 70, but I'll mark it flawed pending my next bottle.
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7/6/2013 - JGinMO wrote: 93 Points
Drank with Crosses. Lovely and complex, great life left on this, but really drinking well. Decanted for an hour ahead, probably hit peak drinking 2 hrs in. Love the subtlety of these aged Rhones.
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6/23/2012 - DoubleD1969 wrote: 91 Points
Similar notes to the bottle drunk last August.
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5/4/2012 - Scottlmatthews wrote: 95 Points
Amazing wine-just what I wanted on a cold, raining Seattle night!
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4/15/2012 - slippytoad wrote: 94 Points
Wonderfully complex with a great nose. The extra years made all the difference.
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4/7/2012 - RockinCabs wrote: 91 Points
Nose: Blackberry, Plum, Licorice, Fig Sauce and Old Leather. Palate: Blackberry, Cassis, Plum and Raspberry on the attack, and the mid-palate gets garrigue, underbrush and cured meat notes. The palate weight is dense with a polished feel. Finish: Dark Fruits, Cedar, Cured Meats and a nice leathery gamey note. Great CDP that has a CA personality up front with nice traditional rhone on the back end. I may be underscoring this.
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2/24/2012 - cubswinws wrote: 91 Points
Nice mature ChP. Some secondary flavors but still enough fruit to be interesting. Not overly
earthy. Drink up.
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1/31/2012 - cct wrote: 93 Points
Deep ruby. A beautiful nose of dark cherry and raspberries, provencal herbs- lavender and thyme really, plum, and some rare meat. Really quite perfumed and fresh with absolutely no overripeness or heat. On the palate, this is supple and texturally beautiful, with an expansive palate presence: and I mean that in the best way. Rich yet not heavy, extremely well balanced, clean, and pure. This has ripe tannins that add grip without any unripe pip feel, adding to the impressive length. A beautiful expression of Grenache drinking wonderfully now and in no risk of decline. Incredibly drinkable. 93pts
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10/6/2011 - Vino Me wrote: 91 Points
Opened by Otis. dark red color. This wine was filled with spiced fruit, black pepper and cherry notes. Medium to full bodied. 91 points.
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8/28/2011 - DoubleD1969 wrote: 91 Points
Opened and poured. Nose: A bit muted at first but opened up to potpourri, red meat, and some red fruit. On the palate, it's medium-bodied with pomegranate, rasberry, mineral, oregano. The wine went very nicely with the ribeye and sauteed onions, red bliss potatoes. It's a restrained style that is very different than the '03 Saint Prefer Charles Giraud which was more concentrated and fruit dominated characteristics.
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8/1/2011 - tp096255 wrote:
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COLOR: Garnet w/med-garnet brick at rim
NOTE: This bottle was purchased from a retailer in OWC and never opened for 5 years. I recently opened the case and found the wine had been heat/cold damaged as it had leaked quite a bit inside the case. MAD!!! Word to the wise: If you buy wines in OWC be sure to inspect them at the point of sale. This case went from the retailer to my wine locker, so I know it wasn't something I did. I can't go back 5 years later and tell them you sold me crap. Anyway, lesson learned. You can see my score below, but I don't think it's fair to put an actual CT score in light of the aforementioned abuse.
Nose is nice Amarena cherries and pomagranate liqueur, some herbs de Provence and a bit of dried tobacco. Has a nice liqueur quality to the mouth, where loads of black cherry/plum preserves are dolloped on top of a charcoal briquette. Some strong minerality takes hold and becomes more dominant in the finish. Alcohol also flares up and this really disrupts the finish. I though the tannins were in a good place so I'm surprised to see tasting notes that complain about how hefty they are. Sure, they're there, but they're smooth and resolved. If this was a truly tannic wine then after 5 years I should have had some sediment in the bottle and found NONE. Not a stitch. Nada. Zip. Zero. Very unusual for any red wine this old. So anyone complaining about tannins is probably confusing one sensation with something else.
DECANT: 5 hr
GLASS USED: Pinot Noir
TASTE: 9.2-
COST: 75 (magnum)
VALUE: n/a
PREVIOUSLY TASTED: n/a
TRY AGAIN: n/a
PAIRING: BBQ Tri-Tip Sandwich
Inquiries can be addressed to troypeterson@usa.net
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7/13/2011 - lvjohn wrote: 93 Points
Wow! This is good CDP. Spicy nose and body of cherries, plums, and a hint of licorice. Really evolves after decanting. Enjoyed with grilled chicken, garden fresh green beans, and baked yam. Our only complaint is the 14.5% ABV.
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4/24/2011 - Deryl wrote: 90 Points
Decanted for about 3 hours before drinking. It continued to evolve as we drank it over the next hour. At first there was an unusual but not objectional component on the mid-palate. I can't identify it but it was rather savory. This component softened later on. I did not find the tannin too high, possibly owing to the long decant. Overall enjoyable but I won't rush out looking for more.
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4/21/2011 - Khamen wrote: 86 Points
Note from last June still very appropriate with this bottle (including the very spongy cork). Powerful extraction and a slightly awkward alcohol burn still in evidence. Heady, perhaps a litte more mulchy with a bit of a baked character coming through. Drinking now tho you feel it still needs time. Not 100% that the balance is here for a long life however.
EDIT +24 hours. I'm very conscious that this wine has been slipping in my estimation over the past couple of years. I think the key thing is that the youthful roar of the fruit has faded somewhat leaving a lot of alcohol and tannic structure. Perhaps its in an awkward place right now - if those tannins and the burn can integrate over the next 3 or 4 years then it may wel go up again in my estimation, but still concerns over that 2003 acidity. After 24 hours or so it has slightly settled butis still brazenly chewy and tannic. Time will tell?
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12/26/2010 - guitarguy wrote: flawed
Corked, damn TCA. Wine Club will not take this back several years after the fact. The industry is stealing from the consumer with TCA.
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8/13/2010 - MonkeyBiz101 wrote: 91 Points
Starting to drink well, could improve with a bit more time.
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6/15/2010 - pizzler wrote: 87 Points
Very green still and it opened up slower than we drank it. I will decant this wine if I open another bottle any time soon. The underlying taste was good, light and airy at first and it thickened the longer the bottle was open. Good balance. It could rate much higher with more patience.
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6/11/2010 - Khamen wrote: 89 Points
Splash decant. Lovely deep, but bright, ruby in the glass, throwing extremely fine threads. Very big nose of red fruit, brush and a good whiff of fine oak. Attack is extremely big and ripe although low acidity and big alcohol throws off the balance a bit. Very big structure apparent as it moves to a dry finish with som bruising tannins. A wine of 2 halves then. Nose and attack shows a big, rich and concentrated wine where the finish is all aggressive and slightly unresolved tannins. Really needs some acidity to give it a lift (low acidity is a curse of the vintage), but would be perfect on a cold winter night in front of the fire. Needs time for those tannins to soften, but concerns over whether there is enough acidity to allow it to get there.
A note on corks here - every bottle I've tried has had a very spongy and porous cork. No nasty side effects here but may impact long term ageing (along with the low acidity noted above).
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5/17/2010 - herberto wrote: 90 Points
This was a solid little wine. Yes, a fairly "modern", simple CdP, but what CdP isn't these days? Not choking on its own ripeness like some, especially in this vintage, and a pretty pleasant package overall.
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4/16/2010 - Zingrrl wrote: 93 Points
Totally disagree with recent notes on this wine. It is, IMHO, in an outstanding zone. Nose of light red fruit. Sweet raspberry followed by leather and game. High alcohol content, so beware. I drank slight more than half over 3 hours and have a slight headache this morning, but wow, was it good. Will update second (almost) half tonight.
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4/9/2010 - canan wrote: 90 Points
Sabon Prestige/Secret Vertical (Restaurant AOC): Nose: Mature fruit, black currant/dark plum, coffee and a little manure.
Palate: Light plum flavors and a little to hard acidity. Seems unbalanced and irrelevant.
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3/8/2010 - Counselor Chris wrote: 87 Points
A decent but pretty bland and non-descript wine, which has neither opulent fruit nor any complexity or elegance. It showed no particular evolution for better, worse or different over about 5 hours. I would have picked it for a decent $12 Cotes du Rhone had I tried it blind. I'm not sure whether it's going to improve or not, but maybe I caught it in a transitional closed phase, and in any event I don't see any reason not to wait a few years on my next one since it's pretty forgettable at this stage.
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1/25/2010 - keithgg wrote: 87 Points
A very ordinary, modern style cdp.
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10/21/2009 - 1800kidney wrote: 92 Points
Bit of a surprise....very nice and open, great fruit presence, not any Brett...not sure I would have said CNdP in a blind tasting, and considering how hot 2003 was, this is a nicely balanced wine
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3/15/2009 - bobbylion wrote: 89 Points
grassy, tannic, high alcohol. needs another 1-2 years. but still pretty good.
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1/20/2009 - gellie wrote: 89 Points
Might be closed down.Charvin shoiwng better.
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8/6/2008 - Khamen wrote: 93 Points
Ok a word of warning to start with. this bottle had been kept in the open (cabinets were full!) and the capsule had been well and truly shredded, probably by mice... There were signs that the wine was starting to seep through the cork so I was a little concerned as to what this may do to it. So bear in mind there may be some unusual side effects/air contamination going on here. However...
Opened, decanted and dived straight in. First impression on the nose is surprise - is this really a young CDP?! Smelled an awful lot like someone had siphoned it off and dumped half a bottle of merlot in there - very soft but pleasant with a detecatable spiciness. Colour is good and not too dense - I think we have all gotten used to blockbusting great super-extracted monsters from the Rhone in 2003, but this is built less like the Pontypridd front row than many.
The attack dispels most (but not all!) of those lingering merlot doubts. This is fantastically well balanced with a real whack of ripe black fruit and lovely soft tanins with just enough acidity to stop it from being limp and lifeless. Plenty of oak in here and a great spicy medium finish with wild brush and pepper.
Now I don't know if this bottle is non-representative due to the storage concern, and I don't know if this just hits my palate but it hit the spot for m e. 93 points. Have another 10 (fortunately stored a little better) so will be interesting to see if this is in it for the long haul like many 2003s.
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7/27/2008 - wine4ever wrote: 88 Points
Closed. Revisit in 3-4 years. Right now it is still enjoyable, but nothing special. Elegant and fruity....but the volume on aroma and flavor complexity are really turned down.
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6/18/2008 - rmalloy wrote: 91 Points
An elegant, feminine Chateauneuf du Pape. Blackberry, black olive, fresh herbs, white pepper, and vanilla are all in tune. Light minerality lingers on the finish, enhancing the black olive note. Very nice. If there is a flaw, I would say it is that the fruit is too plump and ripe (or perhaps, equivalently, the acidity is too low). My preference would be for less black fruit (though this wine is by no means a fruit bomb). Ruby color--could be mistaken for a pinot noir in the glass. Medium bodied, moderate tannins. Not a particularly highly extracted wine. I'd say drink now or soon.
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2/23/2008 - Rollerball wrote: 91 Points
Young--two hours decanting was not enough to open this up. Aromas of powdered coco and black cherry ice cream were followed by revolving crescents of layered berries, espresso, raspberry seeds, and citrus. Lovely and dense but distant.
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12/30/2007 - grafstrb wrote: 87 Points
A Night of Chateauneuf in Edina, MN (Edina Country Club): I tasted this wine at a CdP offline on 12/30/2007, in Edina, MN. (All wines were tasting blind, in a random order. References such as "Blind 3" or "Blind 4" have been replaced with the wines' actual names)
NOSE: bouquet on this is a vast departure from that of the 2003 Janasse Chaupin. This nose is much softer - kind of like smelling a chalky cottonball. Light nose - a touch perfumy.
BODY: light brown-red colored; medium-light bodied.
TASTE: much more acidic than the '03 Janasse Chaupin; earthy; kind of weak.
50, 5, 11, 14, 7 = 87 points
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9/4/2007 - Julex wrote: 92 Points
Double decanted 2 hours before. Very approachable for such youthful age. Cherry and meat notes predominate as expected but tannins intigrate nicely with time. Try one now if you have a few.
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1/17/2007 - plhew wrote: 92 Points
Tasted one of the case to see how it was now. This is a good CDP, well rounded but needs time. One the second day it was much better so that seems to bear out the need for aging. Try again in a year or 2.
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11/3/2006 - 3daywinereview.com wrote: 88 Points
Color: Medium purple
Nose: Mineral, cranberry
Taste: Barnyard, mineral, sour cherry
Finish: A little thin on this medium finish
Evaluation: Disappointing wine compared to most of the others. 88 points
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10/28/2006 - slippytoad wrote: 91 Points
Not as good as the last time we drank this, a little closed. Possibly should have been opened for longer. Otherise, rich and complex.
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6/30/2006 - Frijole wrote:
silky, silvery edges, clear, a touch cloudy, dark ruby, plum
Nose: smoke and wood, raspberries, cherries, wet grass, oaky, cherries
Pal: smoked cherries, plum, hint raspberry, tar, tannins, complex
Feel: big
Finish: long
TC9
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2/25/2006 - peternelson wrote: 92 Points
Woodland Hills Wine: Hard candy nose, licorice, caramel, CREME BRULEE! Underlying cherry and a certain candy/liquor I can’t put my finger on--gried fig? amaretto? Super smth entry, full bod, well int. t’s and fret & soft spice w/glycerin fin. Grt character!
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12/28/2005 - herberto wrote: 89 Points
Rich, meaty, but a bit closed, little fruit showing.
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