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Châteauneuf-du-Pape Dinner
Tasted July 21, 2012 by David Paris (dbp) with 563 views
Introduction
Outdoor dinner at Paul's house. Paul did a fantastic job cooking, and I did a horrible job keeping track of the wines we were drinking... barely took any notes at all as I was enjoying the conversation too much... figured I'd write these up anyway for tracking purposes, mainly just for my own tracking of these wines over time, but sorry the notes are so crappy.
As usual, this did reiterate that generally Châteauneuf-du-Pape is not for me, unless it's particularly old. Everything was good, but not really up to expectations, and I know I'm not enjoying them as much as everyone else.
Flight 1 (10 notes)
Red
1985 Château Mont-Redon Châteauneuf-du-Pape
92 points
This smells beautiful. Very pretty, soft floral aromas. Some earth, but it's dusty. Leather, but no funk at all. Beautiful. The palate is nice, pretty and soft, with mild grittiness. Some older funk here, with plenty of acid remaining, with nice dancing cherry fruit. Really pretty finish, which is soft and lightly earthy. Really lovely stuff, with acidity lingering long with light cherry fruit. Even lingers a minute after swallowing. A beautiful old Châteauneuf, and a page from the history books when compared to the extractive modern stuff...
Red
2001 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Crau
91 points
Crushed berry seeds on the fairly large scaled nose. Dusty, but nice big fruit extraction as well. Nice and soft fruits on the palate, which is again showing big dusty tannins. Large and very gritty. The finish is nice as fruit opens on after swallowing, but it then closes down again. Nice, but pretty tight and youthful still.
Red
2004 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée
90 points
Massive, with a funkiness to the aromas... definitely some brett here. Big and tart palatee, and quite gritty. Yup, huge fruits, but also tart and tight. Wow, surprising how tart the finish is. Hugely gritty, showing some tartness, but not much depth of complexity.
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Red
2004 Domaine de la Vieille Julienne Châteauneuf-du-Pape
91 points
Delicious crushed blackberry seeds are the dominant notion on this massive nose. The palate shows soft deep fruit with massive size on the palate. Its' grippy and gritty as its held in the mouth. Still pretty, though. Tart acids at the end, with light fruit. Pretty soft in flavor, but very large structurally. Nice lingering tartness.
Red
2000 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée
90 points
Good acid is even smelled here. Bright aromas. The palate is soft in texture, almost elegant and pretty, but still very largely fruited. Nice and juicy finish with big gritty tannins, but as my experience with this wine three years ago, really not all that much depth or interest overall.
Red
2000 Domaine Paul Autard Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée La Cote Ronde
91 points
Funky aromas here, but it's also pretty. Rich and really soft fruit on the palate. Not quite as large as the Pegau before it, with a funky tart dark fruited complexion. More funk on the finish, with some mushrooms. Quite nice, with some funky fruits. Tastes like kombucha. I like this, but it's quite different.
Red
2000 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Crau
91 points
Generic, large Chateauneuf fruit. The palate is nice though, with pleasing dark fruits, tart, grippy acidity, and quite pretty overall. Soft strawberry fruit is noted. The finish is nice and lightly funky, with a tartness. Grippy, but very pleasing acidity permeates this one.
Red
1999 M. Chapoutier Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Bernardine
89 points
A bit tart, soft, and a bit of funk. The palate is grippy with large fruit. Juicy. Fruit juice on the finish. This tastes like the wine Gateraid would make if they made wine. Really grippy and soft.
Red
1999 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape
91 points
Intense, ripe, and delicious aromas. The palate offers plenty of ripe fruit and soft texture, though it's a bit closed. Tart flavors and other soft dark fruit. Some funk. The finish is really ripe and juicy, with nice acid. Rich and nicely balanced. Definitely smoother and more integrated than the bottle I had three years ago.
Red
1989 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape
93 points
Awesome aromas here; very soft and nice. Smells incredibly soft and integrated, including green pepper. So pretty, soft, and integrated on the palate. Really pretty and delicious. Big rich acids on the finish, with grippy texture. Amazing the acidity that these older Châteauneuf's have... probably why I love them so much more than the new stuff.