CdPs and Bordeaux

A few people joined me at my place to have some slow roasted lamb and watch the Bears/Vikings monday night game. The Southern Rhones were blind and the larrivet's were non-blind

We tried guessing which one was the ringer, which one was the 06, and which ones were the st jean. A good flight and good fun paying attention to the wines, they showed well and gave some further data points on the 07 vintage

• 2007 Domaine de la Solitude (Lançon Père et Fils) Châteauneuf-du-Pape 91 Points

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

  nose: fairly tight nose at first, but then unwinds very well with well balanced tones of lavender, black fruits, dark red fruits, red cherries, spices, and bits of liqueur tones. There is a touch of heat on the nose, but it isn't too much
  
  taste: silky medium/fullish feel with good supporting tannins and rich tones of lavender, black fruits, red cherries, spices, and bits of liqueur and meaty tones. There is a plushness to the feel right now
  
  overall: This was blind. I had decanted this for a good 3-4 hours before the tasting. Needs a bit of time to come together, but should be a real nice wine when it does

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• 2007 Clos Saint Jean Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes 93 Points

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

  nose: real beautiful nose that is perfumed and heady with plush tones of black cherries, liqueur tones, creme de cassis, melted licorice, dark red fruits, various herbs de provence and a somewhat glycerin aspect to it as well. Great depth and expression already with some good layering
  
  taste: delicious and rich medium/full body with good tannins and plush tones of herbs, hi-toned spices, black cherries, liqueur tones, melted licorice, and some bits of meaty tones. There is some real good layering on this already and there is a seamless feel to it
  
  overall: This was blind. This really showed its class off and had a whole lot of it already. I had been told that it was bottle aired for 6 hours beforehand. This showed extremely well and had a heady quality to it that made it very alluring. Its young right now, but it does come off as rather open

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• 2006 Clos Saint Jean Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes 92 Points

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

  nose: has a more dark and mysterious nose then the previous two wines with black fruits, black currants, black cherries, spice tones, garrigue, herbs and a touch of black pepper starts to come out. Good depth and coming off as very young right now
  
  taste: firm tannins give this a real good backbone with well balanced tones of black fruits, black cherries, herbs, garrigue, black licorice, and some hints of incense. Has a good rich medium/full feel to it right now, and definitely comes off as rough around the edges
  
  overall: This showed very well blind. It was certainly different from the two 07s that had been before it. This could take a bit to fully sort itself out, but it would be a lot of fun to find out what will happen to it. It may not fully get up to the level of what the 07 may be able to achieve, but this is well worth having

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• 2007 Domaine de la Mordorée Lirac La Dame Rousse 90 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Lirac

  nose: striking and more dark profile then was shown from the previous three wines. Excellent depth on the nose with well balanced tones of black cherries, garrigue, roasted meats, black fruits, black cherry liqueur and some bits of hot stones. While it sticks out as the non-CdP with the other wines, it certainly holds its own on the nose, and comes off very young as well
  
  taste: real rich and tasty medium feel with black cherries, garrigue, roasted meats, herbs, hot stones and some liqueur tones. Great depth with good tannins right now. Has a feel like it needs to come together more on the palate, but certainly has a level of class to it
  
  overall: This is very young, and can really improve with a few more years in bottle to let this complete itself a bit more. Good depth on both the nose and palate, this shows itself well within the competition

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This was a nice little chance to get a feel for larrivet over a 10 year period. The 00 and 05 were definitely better then the 95, and it was nice to have the older wine in this field of babies

• 1995 Château Larrivet-Haut-Brion 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  nose: well balanced nose with good depth and tones of graphite, smoke, dark red cherries, cedar, cigar wrappers and some black currants. Showing great on the nose right now as it seems right in its sweet spot with its balance and depth
  
  taste: excellent medium/full feel with good tannins and well balanced tones of dark red cherries, cedar, cigar wrapper, and black currants. Has a polished feel to it and all of the rough edges seem to be smoothed out
  
  overall: This can easily go further, but is in a real good place right now. This shows off what some bottle age can do as there is a seamless quality to the wine. There was some bricking on the wine, but what was more noticeable was the more ruby tinge to the edges. This paired up well with some slow roasted lamb too

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• 2000 Château Larrivet-Haut-Brion 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  nose: this showed off more depth then the 95. Whereas the 95 had a maturing sense to it, this still had a youthful exuberance to it with well balanced and tasty tones of sweet cassis, black cherries, smoke, crushed rocks, scorched earth, sour red fruits and a good base of cedar. Real good complexity along with the depth and really showing a classic graves profile
  
  taste: lovely and well balanced on the palate with a great medium feel with sweeter tannins and tones of cassis, black cherries, smoke, crushed rocks and spice tones. There is good layering right now on the tones, but doesn't seem to fully be there yet
  
  overall: this could use a few more years. This was decanted for about 2 hours and was showing very well, but comes off as wanting to give more with another 3-5 years. This could be a real steal of a wine if it improves further and should be fun to check in on down the road

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• 2005 Château Larrivet-Haut-Brion 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  nose: rich and brooding initially on the nose with a big dose of coffee right off the bat, but then settles a bit with tones of smoke, sour cherries, spices and black currants. Good depth, but fairly tight right now
  
  taste: medium/full bodied with well balanced tones of cedar, creme de cassis, pencil lead, sour cherries, black currants and coffee beans. Big chewy tannins exist right now and it is certainly showing off its youth currently
  
  overall: my friend hadn't decanted this. This saw about 8 hours of bottle air before drinking, but it probably would've benefited from a proper decant. This will need time to round into form and really show itself off. Has a lot of potential and would be fun to compare it to the 00 in about 10-15 years

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A fun night. All of the wines showed well and it made for fun on the blind portion to figure out what was what