1981 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Community Tasting Note
Purple Grillz wrote:
Saturday, August 19, 2017 - Birthday wine for my wife. Wow. This wine seems practically immortal. Open for 72 hours now, it hasn't budged. It is a beautiful clear, ruby red I can read the dictionary through. All sediment resides in black flakes at the bottom of the bottle. I could blather on about all the notes, but my wife said it best bluntly, it's salami. It actually tastes like some amazing liquid fruit/perfectly aged salami, it has that amazing leather/umami flavor that dirty cellars try to imitate with Bretanomyces. Bret sucks always and forever but the real funky feel is great when you get it.
The finish is long but jagged toward the end or this juice would be perfect for what it could be. I will be getting more of this before it completely dries up.
SIDE NOTE: This destroyed 1990 La Mission, 1990 Haut Brion and beat by slim margins 1996 Lafite and 1985 Cheval Blanc in blind tastings.
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3 comments have been posted
4 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue (4,874 views)
Comment posted by John Dunlap:
8/19/2017 9:37:00 PM - Lovely note. Was this wine from a 750ml?
How long will this wine last?
Comment posted by Purple Grillz:
8/19/2017 10:22:00 PM - It was a 750. Fill was excellent and the cork was 90% soaked. It came out in 1 piece. I am astonished at the amount of fruit it still had, not dried out, slightly sour or baked fruit, but balanced acidity, ripe, perfect fruit. That was the glaze around the meaty, charcuterie. I have not met such a beautifully cut bottle since 1986 La Mission and its blackberry coated forest fire.
I am no expert on wine drinking windows but I would think a similar condition bottle would cruise for another 10 years before seriously dropping off.
Comment posted by BVal:
9/20/2017 6:22:00 PM - Just tried this with my wine tasting group (mixed cool wines) and it was hands-down the WOTN. I had been worried it might be over the hill but I'd have to agree with you, it's not even close. That you had yours open for 72 hours without significant loss in quality speaks volumes. Great note!!!