GoP 4.8 - Wines of Chateauneuf-du-Pape (with a little detour)

Fabulous tasting at Extra Space - each person bringing one CdP. Ended up popping a few more, including an impromptu mini-Spanish line up. I had rib-eye packed from Aston's, and some wonderful Tete de Moine cheese with quince.

• 2005 Olivier Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet 90 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet

  Other tasters on CT seem to be rather tough on this wine - I actually thought it was a pretty good village, with very good typicity for Puligny. Neither Chassagne or Meursault, it was perched nicely in between. Light gold coloured. Rather closed when I first nosed it, with stony mineral and flint dominating, then it opened to show some apple fruit with hints of tropical stuff underneath and a dry woody undertone. Just a tad imbalanced, with a touch glycerin at the backend of the bouquet. After time in the glass, a flowery element started to show. The palate was surprisingly sweet and oaky (with a slight layering of nutty butter) after the restrained nose, with apple and preserved winter-melon tones and a minerally backbone. Rather fat and fleshy, with a gummy mouthfeel and round acidity. It finished short with a slight butter kick and another burst of off-balanced heat. The one down point to an otherwise refined, medium bodied wine. Very good village indeed.

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• 2001 Le Vieux Donjon Châteauneuf-du-Pape 92 Points

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

  Second bottle of this wine in a short time. I'm just as impressed as I was a few weeks back, if not even more. Very spicy on the nose as before, opening up with a burst of pepper and a more noticeably meaty bass note than previously and a perfumy element mixed in. It started putting on sweet licorice and plum tones towards the end of the pour and little hints of garrigue here and there. Just a hint of alcohol on the nose. The palate was was another explosion of peppery spice, with more of that nice meatiness and a lot more licorice (especially towards the end), all held up with nice bright acid and slightly chalky tannins, giving the wine a certain lightness compared to the other CdPs on the night. There was some heat, but that blew off. All in all, I found it slightly sweeter and more balanced than the last bottle I had. Finish was okay, a little bitter and a touch savoury. I suspect this would have ironed out if I was more patient and left it a bit longer. Very classic.

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• 1999 Domaine Charvin Châteauneuf-du-Pape 93 Points

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

  Oh this was very nice indeed, very 1999 CdP, almost Burgundian in character. Lovely nose, with layers of meat, plum, little black berries (which grew more prominent with time), bramble and wreaths of smoke. Extremely clean and elegant palate, a little modern in its slight sweetness, but with pure fruit, bits of spice and licorice and a backbone laden with stoney minerality. Acid and tannins had toned down, but were still lurking in the background and giving the wine a beautiful balance. It finished nice and longish with more of that steely minerality and an almost surprising juicy meatiness. Beautiful with my rib-eye steak.

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• 2001 Domaine St. Benoit Châteauneuf-du-Pape 87 Points

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

  I was not too sure what to make of this wine. The nose was very grape-juicy and raisiny, with an undertone of licorice and stewed prunes. Very sweet and rather new-world, almost reminiscent of the Torbreck Steading I last had. Thankfully (at least in my view), the wine began to display a more savoury, meaty undertow with time. The palate was rather closed initially, then began to show a thin layer of dark cherries and prune. This had a rather clean feel, acid seemed okay, and there were firm, grippy and rather mouth-coating tannins, but just not enough fruit to drive the wine, which came out a little watery. Finish was shortish, but it resovled nicely with a round juciness and bits of cherry and spice. Not unpleasant by any means but, by some distance, the weakest showing of the night

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• 2000 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Chaupin 92 Points

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

  This is Janasse's 100% Grenache cuvee. Certainly one of the more modern wines on show, with the thick and layered nose showing vanillin laden oakiness alongside plums and mushrooms and a beam of chalk (Domaine website says 30% of this goes into barriques, with 1/4 new, rather than the more traditional foudres) . Very sweet and welcoming bouquet. The first thing that hit me about the palate were powdery tannins and a ferrous tone, with more traditional black licorice notes and slightly bitter root flavours peeking out later. Rather thick and modern here as well. Sweet, but not overly so, with a stream of fresh acid keeping the wine on its toes. Very good finish, with that same steely notes at first, but that faded into a very satisfying and lingering licorice tail. A good wine, but a tad clumsy - I think Janasse has shown better in later vintages.

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• 2000 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 94 Points

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

  I might be biased because this was my donation and because it's a Beau, but this was my WOTN, just pipping the excellent Charvin 1999. Special mention also goes to the wonderful pairing with rib-eye steak on the night. The wine was dark purple wine with a rim shading towards garnet. Absolutely gorgeous Beaucastel / mourvedre driven nose, with layers and layers of leather and red meat, with little undertones of animale and barnyard giving a hint of wildness, dark cherry, kirsch, a touch of garrigue and perfumed, flowery notes floating at the top. Wonderful on the palate as well, with really bright acid that suprised me with almost every sip giving the wine a really clean, elegant feel. Lots of concentrated flavours here - more slightly sweaty leather, rare red meat, pepper and load and loads of dark, dark cherry winding its way seamlessly into a long, meaty finish with bits of root and garrigue, the smallest touch of mineral and a lingering sprinkle of powdery tannins. Very complete, seamless, perfectly balanced. Yum.

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• 2000 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape 90 Points

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

  I think we should have decanted this for awhile because, while still very decent, this was not showing all that fantastically. Slightly oxidised on the nose, with soy saucey notes coming out first. Thank goodness this was only slightly, and familiar Clos des Papes scents of sweetish cherry, meat and leather came to the fore along with less pleasant whiffs of glycerin. The alchy-ness carried on to the rather dense, thickish palate too, giving the wine a rather unintegrated feel. Otherwise, it showed flavours of sweet, very ripe, very dark cherries, licorice and a minerally finish with okay length. Grippy tannins rounded the wine off. While not flabby, I would have preferred a little more freshness. Overall, It came across rather one dimensional. Not a bad wine by any means, but I tend to expect more from Clos des Papes, and this was certainly a dissapointment after the knock-out 2003 that I recently had.

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• 1995 Château La Nerthe Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée des Cadettes 92 Points

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

  Most modernly styled of the night, not what I am used too with CdP, but very nice. I found this amazingly young tasting for a 13-year-old CdP. Tons of buttery oak on the nose at first, followed up by coffee, chocolate, meat, thorn bush, plum, dark cherry, pepper and a distinct mintiness, all unfolding one after another. Lovely nose, but the palate did not quite match up. Dense, almost a little jammy, with licorice and spice dominating. It had great concentration, but I felt that the fruit was a little locked up, hidden under all that dense licorice flavour. I would probably have preferred a bit more freshness as well. There are still loads of mouth-coating tannins, and this wine certainly has very good stuffing - I think it could really do with even more bottle age and good long decant. It should shine after that.

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• 2003 Domaine Christia Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Renaissance 91 Points

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

  This was the only wine we decanted on the night - I tried it after a couple of hours. Lovely, rather sweetish nose on this one. A hint of oak, very pure, clean cherry fruit, slightly darker cassis tones and a touch of bramble, with thick licorice notes emerging towards the end of the glass. There was an unfortunate whiff of alcohol, but it was not overly distracting. Clean cassis and cherry fruit on the palate as well, with bright acidity and teeth-coating tannins propping the wine up until its peppery finish, where the acidity seemed to fade out and let the wine go. It is a good thing that there was significant struture up till that point though, otherwise the wine may have collapsed under its weight - this was BIG, in a rather alcoholic, very extracted style. Certainly good, but just a bit OTT.

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• 2004 Dominio Pingus Ribera del Duero Flor de Pingus 93 Points

  Spain, Castilla y León, Ribera del Duero

  Pure infanticide, so I am going to rate this on potential as much as anything else. Nose was all oak at first - I could not get pass the candied coconut tones. I put the glass aside, waited for awhile, came back to it, still coconutty. At the third try, it began to show plum and mocha flavours, and the more familiar Tempranillo accents of slightly stinky earth and lovely smoke and cigar scents. Very classy on the palate, which was dense, and yet very refined and beautifully balanced with a fine tannin and clean acid structure. The oak was extremely dominating on the palate as well, with plum flavours lurking underneath and puffs of smoke emerging as we ended the nigt. Super long finish with a meaty aftertaste. I found the wine very modern compared to the more traditional Rioja style and very rich indeed, with intense, concentrated flavours waiting to explode at some time in the future. Patience is much advised.

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• 2004 Quinta Sardonia QS 92 Points

  Spain, Castilla y León, Vino de la Tierra de Castilla y León

  Another very modern Spanish wine, but really good. This was standing toe-to-toe with the Flor de Pingus 2004 on the night, which just shaded this wine with a little extra refinement. Darkly purple in the glass, this wine was full of coconutty oak on the nose, which offered a typical smoke and tobacco profile and some black fruit buried under all of that. It was not as overwhelmingly oaky as the FdP though. The palate was really nicely balanced, bright and fresh with plush, velvety tannins undergirding slightly meaty, licorice and cherry gummy flavours wrapped in some lovely smoky tobacco. Long finish which showed a flash of heat at first, which faded into a satifying smokiness.

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• 2005 Artadi Viñas de Gain 92 Points

  Spain, La Rioja, La Rioja Alavesa, Rioja

  Strikingly different from the two Castillian tempranillos that we had (Flor de Pingus and Quinta Sardonia)- this was more classic Spain, and very nice at that. Very fresh on the nose, a bit tight at first, but it blossomed with some time to show a slight green and brambly, but not altogether unpleasant streak running through pure berry fruit and chocolate coffee flavours with classic smokey undertones, all wrapped in subtle oak. The palate, while thickish, was nowhere near as dense as the other two wines. Superb balance, with really clean acidity and firm tannins. More berries here, very pure fruit expression, with reams of smoke and a touch of nutty oak. The wine started putting on weight and took on slightly licoriced flavours with time. Finish was rather short unfortunately, but otherwise very nice. I think it will do even better with time to age - my last bottle will remain locked up for quite sometime. Great value wine.

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• 1997 Fattoria di Fèlsina Berardenga Chianti Classico Riserva Rancia 91 Points

  Italy, Tuscany, Chianti, Chianti Classico DOCG

  This was a stately, refined Chianti Classico at 11 years of age. We rushed through this one as it was one of the last bottles of the night unfortunately - it really sarted coming into its own only with the the last few sips. Nose was classic aged Chianti, with meat, smoke and a touch of mineral. Very clean, pure palate, with cherry flavours riding on a super-balanced structure of fine, slightly mouth coating tannins and still bright acidity, all very refined until the mid-palate, and then the wine just stops. Like a door slamming shut. No finish to speak off, just an abrupt drop. Only towards the end of the evening, when the wine started to put on weight, taking on thicker licorice tones and filling out, did the hole begin to diminish and a smoky finish start emerging. I tasted it blind again just before we packed up and left, and actually guessed it was one of the many CdPs!

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• 2005 Weingut Josef Leitz Rüdesheimer Berg Roseneck Riesling Spätlese 91 Points

  Germany, Rheingau

  A sweetish white to round up the night, this was really nice. Very German nose of primary white stone fruit, slate, rubber and petroleum, moving seamlessly into the super well-balanced palate, which showed the same pure, sweet fruit rounded off with juicy acidity, and into the finish, which was long, fresh and minerally. Beautiful - this will be a joy to taste 10 years down the road.

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