2000 Chateauneuf-du-Pape tasting

A big thanks to Andrew for putting together a nice line-up of 2000 CdP. This was a nice, relaxed tasting with the Jiuwine gang. Just the right number of people, with the right number of wines. A real contrast to the last, rather punishing CdP night we had!

• 2000 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Crau Flawed

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

  TCA. Not a huge amount, but a real pity. Under the wet cardboard and fish guts, I got a shy, woody nose with little remnants of perfume, savoury meat, plums and a touch of licorice. Palate, as one would expect, was flat and rather lifeless, just acid, along with touches of funk, licorice, quince and a metallic tinge all along the spine of the wine. Truncated finish linger with a touch of bittersweetness.

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• 2000 Clos du Mont-Olivet Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Cuvée du Papet 93 Points

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

  Excellent, and drinking just beautifully now. Lovely, complex nose opened with a meaty, paté tone, seasoned with herbs and bramble and underscored with lots of dark fruits - plums, currants et al - all laced through with a touch of mineral and a sprinkle of pepper. Nice, thick and rich, with just the slightest touch of alcohol along the rim of the bouquet. There was some sweetness on the palate, with cherry and cherry liquer tones wed to savoury pigs stomach soup and tripe stew notes along with more pepper and spice. It was ripe, plush and soft, and yet with a great sense of balance and nice, clean litheness to it. Lots of power on the attack, which faded a little towards the finish, which lingered with some bittersweet mineral, but nonetheless, a very round and complete wine indeed. Delicious. This was the quintessential 2000 CdP. Group #7, tied #5 for me.

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• 2000 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape 93 Points

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

  Was this the same wine I had 10 months ago? Disappointing at the last try, it was beautiful this time round. Very classic Clos des Papes on the nose - I got lovely sweet cherry fruit, flowers and a light touch of meat. Sleek and feminine, yet with an underlying richness. The palate was similarly rich, with sweet cherries, a very pure expression of the fruit I might add, liquer, licorice, pepper and spice, a little bit of cola and a touch of orange peel. Very long on the finish, it was powerfully persistent, yet gentle at the same time, pulling away with a bit of bittersweet stewed tea leaves and another sprinkling of black pepper. Very well-integrated, very nicely balanced throughout - it was at once open and voluptuous, yet sleek and stylish at the same time. A very complete wine, maybe lacking just that little something special to push it to greatness, but a superb effort nonetheless. Group #3, my #2.

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• 2000 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 89 Points

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

  Extremely disappointing, especially since I was looking forward to this after my previous experiences with this vintage. An off-bottle perhaps, or mild heat damage? No noticeable flaw on this – but most of us who had drunk this before put it down to bottle-variation of some sort. It was like night and day compared to the previous bottlings I have had. This had none of the feral meatiness that a young Beaucastel has, instead we got a tight-fisted nose that showed a hint of sweet, candied cherries. Palate was similarly unyielding, with a thin showing of sweet licorice, cherries and plums along with slightly tart acidity and a touch of pepper. Not disastrous, but very one-dimensional. It finished sharply, with a slightly wash of heat. Drinkable and decently balanced, but certainly not the same wine I knew.

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• 2000 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée 95 Points

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

  Absolutely gorgeous. What a nose! Beautifully fragrant, rich with dark kirsch and creme de cassis scents melded into undergrowth accents, garrigue herbs, meaty tones, with pig stomach soup and tripe stew notes liberally sprinkled with pepper. Extremely focused and seamless on the palate, with a sweaty, leathery funk along with more generous dollops of creme de cassis, slightly roasted red meat, a touch of woody cedar, and lush, complex red and black fruit notes. Great power, perfect balance, beautiful fine tannins. It was lovely from the attack all the way into a round, very, very long finish with more hints of wood and a last punch of lovely cherry fruit. Group's unanimous #1.

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• 2000 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Chaupin 93 Points

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

  Our first foray into the modern approach to CdP after a few stunning traditionally styled wines. This was another bottle that showed far better than when we tried it about 10 months ago. Nose was full of oaky coffee notes, along with plush meat and plum notes and a dash of pepper. Extremely modern, but somehow rather addictive. The palate was similarly plush, with quite a bit of extract, but all shaped by a fine tannin backbone and good balance, so that there was a nice elegance in its dark fruit, licorice and savoury meat flavours. A little weaker than I would expect on the finish after such a sleek and rich entry and mid-palate, but still pretty nice, with a little lift from the acid. Very good now, this will get even better with time. Group #6, my joint #5.

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• 2000 Le Clos du Caillou Châteauneuf-du-Pape Domaine du Caillou Les Quartz 93 Points

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

  Very modern, very extroverted. Not quite my favourite style, but this was a very good wine. Nose had a wash of glycerin and varnish, but there was lots of complexity beneath that, with pepper and spice along with red and black fruits, savoury, meaty notes, brambly accents and roasted coffee. Much the same on the palate. Modern and extracted, yet with plenty of underlying complexity in the shape of gummy fruits, cassis, cherries, coffee and, as time when by, more and more minerality. I really liked the finish as well. Plush and smooth, with licorice and a touch of coffee grounds, yet it got longer and longer as the might when by, with more and more minerality showing. Along with the Boisenard, this was by far the youngest and tightest showing of the night. It will be a really, really nice wine in another 5 years' time. Group #4, my #4.

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• 2000 Tardieu-Laurent Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes 94 Points

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

  The most modern and oak-manipulated and least terroir driven of the lot. All things point to the fact that I should dislike the wine, but it just had so much quality in it. As much as I disdain over-oaked wines, I must say that there was lovely use of oak on the nose - I got crazy scents of coffee, butterscotch, Starbucks caramel latte, spice box, spicy fig cake, cinnamon, toasty peppercorns, vanilla and milk chocolate. Not too much CdP here, but really lovely to put my nose into the glass and sniff. The palate was sweet, but very cleanly balanced, with an explosion of cherries on the attack. Sure, it was modern and extracted, but oh so very pure in its expression! Almost astoundingly so actually. Moving to the mid-palate, there was plenty of weight and complexity, with black fruits coming in, than cedar wood and spice box riding on a bed of fine, ripe tannins into a long, clean finish full of fruits and a touch of spice. Very nicely focused and delineated wine, and still with tons and tons of aging potential. I cannot fault the quality of the fruit in any way, and I am sure the wine will get even better with time as the oak tones down and the underlying quality of the wine comes out. Only problems I have with it is are the lashings of new oak and the distinct lack of typicity, hopefully that will reveal itself in due course. In the meantime, this is still absolutely yummy drinking. An excellent wine even though I do not like the style - which is saying a lot. Group #2, my #3.

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• 2000 Domaine de Beaurenard Châteauneuf-du-Pape Boisrenard 93 Points

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

  The least "modern" of the new school wines we tried today, and the most tightly coiled and young wine of the entire tasting. It was pretty shut down, but I thought it had very good material for aging. The nose showed a touch of funk, along with sweet, sappy cherries, some bramble and whiffs of black coffee along with little hints of glycerin. All still rather shy though. The palate was even tighter. Nice balance, fresh acidity and very good weight, but otherwise not yielding much beyond sweet cherry fruit and liberal dashes of pepper. Only at the finish was there a little more expressiveness, with licorice, gummy fruit and espresso, all wrapped up in a surprisingly round and giving flourish. All in all, very impressively packaged wine. Would like to try this again in 5 years. Group #5, my joint #5.

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• 2000 Lang Vineyards Riesling Icewine 91 Points

  Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Valley, Okanagan Valley VQA

  Enjoyable. Rich, coconut candy nose, with hints of orange, savoury preserved sour plums and a little layer of glycerin. Oily palate, again very rich, with toasted nuts, orange marmalade, sticky yellow fruit and more of the pervasive coconut candy, especially when moving into the rather decent finish. Lacks complexity and perhaps a little bit of freshness. Otherwise, a good way to end the evening.

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All in all, this tasting really confirmed the impression I had of 2000 as a vintage. It is a very good vintage, with early, approachable wines, marked by lush, rich fruit and soft, round and voluptuous palates with ripe, velvety structures and lower acidity (relative to years like 2001). Yet, for all that, the top wines have a lovely balance and presence and are an absolute joy to drink. Compared to other vintages, I would say it is certainly not as hard and structured a vintage as 1998, but has more body and lush and fruity presence than the light and elegant 1999 vintage. Perhaps not quite as classic as 2001, but a lot more approachable. Many of the wines have very much come into their drinking windows. I have had a handful of them at various points over the last year, and I must say that they are showing much better now.