Community Tasting Note

• JRDillon Likes this wine: 90 points

  November 23, 2017 - For Thanksgiving dinner I decided to open my three oldest bottles of Pegau, a 2001, a 2003 and a 2004. All three were excellent choices for a massive turkey and dressing meal with sweet potatoes, green-bean casserole with bacon, and numerous other food choices. All three vintages were in very different phases. The 2001, unfortunately, had moved well past its prime and definitely had a muted quality that despite three hours of decant would not allow the primary flavors that were so present in its youth to emerge. It was still delicious in its subtle way, but disappointing in that it had faded so far. Hints of fruit and terroir clearly were hiding in there somewhere, but overall there was very little, if any, tannic structure left. Nevertheless, two of the women in our party cited this wine as their favorite of the three. Even so, if you still have any of these, I highly recommend drinking up as soon as possible. The 2003 was the winner, imo, and was still singing with a delicious fruity tartness and gobs of earthy, barnyard terroir. This one, like the 2001, had dropped a weight class even though the decline was not nearly as pronounced. I just remember this wine at the five-year mark being one of the greatest wines I have ever tasted, but, despite its complex brilliance, this particular bottle did not come close to replicating that experience. That it shone above the others was not a surprise considering the high marks this vintage received. Moving on to the 2004, I found this one to be a bit clipped, with less depth and complexity, though still in fine shape and carrying a healthy weight. This vintage just does not stack up with the other two, and even at its peak was a substandard representation of Pegau, imo. I don't want to convey that these wines were not delicious; they all were, and most importantly, all three were a perfect complement to the outstanding meal. But none of them reached the sublime level I have experienced so many times in the past with Pegau and have almost come to expect. Thankfully, these were not the only bottles of these vintages I have owned, so I have tasted all three at much younger ages. To be honest, I have not had much luck with aged wines (10+ years) of any kind lately, and I am becoming more and more of a proponent of drinking them early, or earlier anyway. Whether Bordeaux, Cali cabs, or CDPs, I am finding the five-year mark to be a sweet spot for maximum enjoyment as a general rule, but feel free to disagree.

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1 Comment

• MarcS commented:

  12/28/17, 10:20 AM - not arguing with you about Pegau or CNDP in general. But as a long time Bordeaux drinker I can't even express how wrong it seems to me to say that Bordeaux is at its best at the five-year mark. You may have been drinking too many Bordeaux during that shut down period which can run from about 5 to 10-12 years, it is true that especially from big vintages it's better to get to a Bordeaux when it's younger than five years from vintage than try to crack it at 8-10 years. But when they reawaken from that shut down period they are amazing.

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