1990 Les Cailloux (Lucien et André Brunel) Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Community Tasting Notes (12) Avg Score: 92.4 points

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  11/22/2023 - chatters wrote:

  First Wednesday Wine Club Rhone Dinner (One Penny Red, Summer Hill): Wonderful aged nose, dried Autumn leaf, Shrooms, earth, garrigue, red berry, integrated, sous bois & Autumn copse. In the mouth there is a still a sweet red fruit core, raspy oaky and slightly coarse tannic rasp which grinds seductively against the tongue. slight alcohol warmth robs it of freshness but pretty good.

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  6/30/2020 - blanquito wrote: 93 Points

  Really good, fully mature, ready to go. I served this double blind to my local crew and they zeroed in on the region easily, but they thought it was younger than it was. This is a big, ripe wine with late harvest notes of sur-maturité and roasted fruit. Despite the obvious sweetness and layered concentration, this isn't stewed and has enough rustic structure to make all its 1990 exoticism fun to drink, rather than a chore. Wines like this make me wonder WTF happened to the wine world, as you can get all the power and hedonism you want here but with none of the pitfalls of modern winemaking (like heaviness, heat, booze, clinical and soulless structures, flabby low acid nonsense).

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  6/19/2020 - WetRock wrote:

  Covid Cassoulet (Robin Stark's, Cardiff-by-the-Sea): This looked a lot more advanced than it drank. It's definitely looking thin and brickish. The expression says otherwise. Subtle and complex nose showing iron and smoked meats. Great old school European. Herby palate that's still bright. Expressive with more cured pork types of things. This was a delight. Maybe a bit lost in a night of wines that all showed well. I just didn't expect it to be this good still. I would say this is probably not going to go a lot longer at this level. I'd drink em if I had em. Very good.

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  4/15/2020 - WinoRick Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Boy, I'm right there with the last review two years ago! Silky with a sweetish round mouthfeel and a super long finish. Not necessarily an earthy CdP, but still a lot of nuances and character.
  In the long past, the Les Cailloux CdP's were not Parkerized and their lighter character allowed them to be slipped into Burgundy blind tastings and fool some wannabe experts.

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  11/18/2018 - btock Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Picked up from one of Envoyer's cellar purchases. Have come to appreciate the myriad of flavor development paths that aged CdP can take so was excited to try this. Opened it to pair with an '88 Vieux Telegraphe and that was such a great flight. The '90 Brunel was the more feminine of the two wines. While the VT was iron and sanguine, the Brunel showed a fully resolved purple fruit core, silky mouthfeel and a delicate lightness that was really engaging. The bottle must have been well stored before I owned it because it was showing all sorts of nuances (bit of provencale herbs, touch of graphite and then that purple plum core) with no real signs of tipping towards fading edges. A treat to catch in this window, and probably the most 'refined' experience I've had with aged CdP since trying the '89 Beaucastel several years back. A very good bottle that was ready to go.

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