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Chateauneuf du Pape Tasting - Seattle
Tasted June 28, 2008 by greenblanket with 565 views
Introduction
Greenblanket, No Spit and some new friends threw together a quick tasting of Chateauneuf du Pape wines on a warm summer evening There was no scoring and we tried to keep the geekdom down to a minimum.
Flight 1 (8 notes)
Red
2004 Domaine de Villeneuve Châteauneuf-du-Pape Les Vieilles Vignes
This wine came on big and dark fruited with classic beefy/gamey aspects. It had lovely spring flowers on the nose and a long finish with very strong fine tannin. From a small biodynamic producer – this is another No Spit home run. Pretty clearly the WOTN out of the younger wines.
Red
2001 E. Guigal Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Red with a bit of bricking in the glass. This wine had lovely bouquet and palate with dried fruit and flowers, and appealing earthy aspects. The finish was long and fine. This is drinking beautifully right now IGB’sHO. There is a wide range of opinion on this wine but our group found it to be excellent at worst.
Red
2002 Domaine Pierre Usseglio & Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape
This led off with a great nose that offered flowers, herbs and spices. Greenblanket thought that the great strength of this wine was it’s beautiful poise and balance in the mouth – he didn’t want to swallow it. This wine had great concentration and complexity and a long finish. Outstanding
Red
1998 Les Cailloux (Lucien et André Brunel) Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Now here we have a nicely aged Chateauneuf. This had some serious bricking and showed soy and pork broth aspects on the nose (in a very good way). The palate was beautifully soft with pure red fruits and the finish was equally lovely. One of our group summed it up perfectly by stating that this wine is great with food. Outstanding and the favorite of our gathering.
Red
2005 Bosquet des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Tradition
Bright dark red in the glass with a nose of high toned red fruit. The palate was high toned as well with strong concentration and tannins. Too young and primary to tell much. A nice wine that probably received the least mention by the group.
Red
2001 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Crau
A wonderful CdP with red and black fruit and beautiful provencal herbs and spice throughout. It was big and deep and complex with strong fine tannin a long finish with pretty fruit and anise. This one was gone before Greenblanket got a good second taste. Outstanding.
Red
2005 Domaine la Barroche Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réserve
This presented as a young wine with lots of dark fruit and tannin. There were also notes of game, beef, earth and stem. Greenblanket wondered about the amount of Mourvedre included. It seemed to be a traditional but not an old school Chateaunuef. Excellent.
Red
2003 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Crau
This wine seemed to have just a bit of age on it with dried fruit and game flavors and aromas. The palate had high toned red fruit with provencal herbs and spice and a bit more clove than Greenblanket is comfortable with. Excellent
Closing
All eight of these wines were delicious and interesting and all were in the $25 to $60 price range - strong evidence of the value, quality and pleasure offered by this appellation.