Wineflock - 'Reserve' Chateauneuf du Papes

The flock met on Thursday night at Bob and Ann's to taste through a series of special bottling or 'reserve'-level CdP. Our themes usually prescribe a fairly narrow vintage range, but this one was wide open. The result was an unusually interesting, but also challenging, tasting that allowed us to compare mature examples with young turks. Overall the wines showed very well and everyone agreed that the scoring was unusually tight (no clunkers, but no runaway's either). I thought is was a very high quality well made group of wines, but for the most part missed the real wow factor I was hoping to find. Lots of buzz about CdP lately, but I think I'll focus my buying on more mature examples at auction over the bevy of high-scoring new releases.

All wines blind as usual.

• 1989 Domaine Burle Gigondas Les Pallieroudas 87 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Gigondas

  Medium crimson color. Lovely briar slightly sour red fruit nose. A bit tight and acidic on the palate. A bit angular, though it smoothed out some with time.

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• 1998 Domaine de l'Hortus Pic St. Loup Grande Cuvée 91 Points

  France, Languedoc Roussillon, Languedoc, Pic St. Loup

  Medium cherry red color. Rich ripe tight nose with some lifting acidity. Serious tight concentrated red/black fruit on the palate. More concentrated that it appeared based on color. Spicy black fruit finish with firm tannins.

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• 1998 Charles Melton Nine Popes 93 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley

  Group #5, My #4 (Ringer) - Full red color. Bright red fruit nose with hints of bubblegum, mint, and licorice. Big red spicy fruit with sweet briar notes and a round coffee finish. Very nice.

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• 1989 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes 94 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Group #9, My #4 - Cloudy crimson garnet color. Lovely sweet red cherry - medium almost burg-like nose. Dripping red fruit, seeming focus on grenache. Sweet, round, really nice mature CdP.

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• 2001 Domaine Pierre Usseglio & Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de mon Aïeul 92 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Group #6, My #7 - Full red/purple color. medium candied red dustry fruit nose with notes of pencil lead and cocoa. Big tight tannic red frui with spicy mid palate and long acidic finish. Needs time.

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• 2001 Domaine de Beaurenard (Paul Coulon et Fils) Châteauneuf-du-Pape Boisrenard 93 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Group #4, My #6 - two bottles of this showed up so this is a blended note with emphasis on my higher rated (by one point) note. Opaque deep purple/red color. Distinctive forward perfumed briar purple fruit nose with some dusty notes. Searing black fruit on the palate with coffee, pepper, tannin, and some acidity. Finishes forever. This is a huge wine that really needs time to come together and shine - I think it will be great.

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• 2000 Domaine de Beaurenard (Paul Coulon et Fils) Châteauneuf-du-Pape Boisrenard 94 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Group #3, My #2 - Opaque black/purple color. Full candied purple fruit with perfume notes again (apparently a characteristic of this wine as it persists across vintages). Huge rich black fruit with great concentration, layers, hints of sweet, and a long coffee finish. Like the 2001, big burly wine, but this one is giving up considerably more IHMO.

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• 1998 Domaine de la Mordorée Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de la Reine des Bois 93 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Group #1, My #3 - Opaque black/red color. Full black fruit nose with grilled steak notes and hints of acidity. Smooth silky rich black fruit and berry on the palate with a great mid-palate and a long spicy round finish.

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• 1989 Les Cailloux (Lucien et André Brunel) Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Centenaire 90 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Group #7, My #9 - Tough to pick a #9 wine here because they were good across the lineup! Clear ruby garnet color. Medium canned red fruit nose with leather and rose petal hints. Full tight black fruit with some licorice and spice. Even for an 89, this wine was still wound up pretty tight and will likely improve for another 5-10 years.

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• 1990 Les Cailloux (Lucien et André Brunel) Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Centenaire 95 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Group #2, My #1 - Full crimson/garnet color. Killer nose of deep rich coffee red fruit, briar, and secondary notes. Huge tannic black fruit with pepper notes and hints of sweetness. Long acidic tannic finish. I like this more and more as I savoured it over the course of the evening. A great wine drinking at or near it's peak.

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• 1998 Joseph Phelps Eisrébe 90 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, St. Helena

  Medium gold color. Odd medicinal nose with ester notes. Full light bodied, but with rich honeyed apple. Better on the palate than nose.

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• 1994 Altesino Vin Santo d'Altesi 87 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Chianti, Colli dell'Etruria Centrale

  Full caramel color. Nutty acetone sherry nose. Electric almond caramel toffee with acidic, slightly odd finish.

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• 1990 Giuseppe Quintarelli Amabile del Cerè Veneto IGT 93 Points

  Italy, Veneto, Veneto IGT

  Probably a little lost at the end of the evening which is a shame. Full deep caramel color. Somewhat sherry oxidative notes on the nose. Nutty caramel almond on the palate - great focus and precision. Clear sweetness, but more subdued than most dessert wines. Nice.

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