Clear medium ruby; clean medium plus nose of red cherry liquor, blackberry cordial, raspberry jam, barnyard, rubber and florality; dry; high acidity; medium tannins; high alcohol; medium plus body; pronounced flavour intensity; palate has fruit payoff with addition of candied fruit, brandy, baking spices, raisins and cocoa; long finish; do not drink - wait another 3 years; a hot mess and almost undrinkable out of the bottle - all alcohol and Koolaid; a 1 hour decant helped a little; hoping that the wine will settle down with additional age and/or that this was a bad bottle
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60 minute decant. Vague, light nose of cherry and red fruits. Powerful palate of red cherry, peppery red fruits, and a note red Kool-Aid with acidity that leads into an equally powerful finish of leather, candied fruits, red plum, cranberry and garrigue. It's balanced, but didn't show as well as expected. Not sure it'll improve but we'll see.
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Alcohol and stewed/baked fruit on the nose. No freshness. 2015 was the same. Shows all of its 15.5% alcohol. Ripe fruit sweetness, but the alcohol dominates and the baked notes not to my taste. Seems like a relic from the Parkerized wines of the early 2000s. Pass on this producer in the future.
After PnP. Dark ruby red. Awesome forest floor on the nose. Roses, dark red fruit, and earthy mushrooms. Medium body with lovely tannins and bright acidity giving it lingering goodness. Really enjoyable to drink and I expect will still improve.
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Nose of fresh thyme, dark cherry, red earth, and sawdust. Black cherry palate with leather, black olive, menthol, smoked meat, black plum, and minerals. Peppery, spicy start to the finish shows some initial firmness followed by a rush of dry raspberry, cherry, dried oregano, iron, and finally old oak, wet dirt, and chewy tannins. Opened up after a couple hours in the glass - maybe needs another year or two?
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A mini-celebration of Philippe Cambie; 12/19/2021-12/25/2021: Wonderful, soaring, white pepper, pine and garrigue over a concentrated, Grenache driven palate. At first it seemed sharp and a bit volatile, but with time and air it showed more of the red-fruited raspberry and cherry of a more traditional Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Vibrant and spicy, a powerful wine but the more it airs the more traditional it tastes. Labeled at 15.8%, it doesn't feel anything like that. Tons of herbes de provence and potpourri, spicy and delicious.
As CdPs go, this wine is just incredible, and the best quality for price that I have yet tried in an excellent vintage. My 5th bottle, this was very open and showy from the get go, although it improved in the glass over an hour.
Dark garnet, with nose of black cherry and anise, it is full and expansive. Noticeable but not distracting alcohols add to the bouquet. I would agree with a prior post that there is not much garrigue/savory happening here. But it is a melange of red and dark fruits with cinnamon spice, with good acidity and persistence.
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I've been drinking this wine for about 2 years now - maybe I've shared 8-12 bottles. I have not noted garrigue once. Just to check my sanity I pulled out fresh bag of herbs de Provence and didn't note any similarity (neither did my wife). The nose is either strong fennel or red licorice (some fruity flavoring with anise). The palate is harder to describe, but very satisfying and long. The palette is a perfect blend of fennel with rich grape juice. I wouldn't call it berries or cherries. It's like a young Napa cab (like a Dunn Napa) with a fennel overtone. This wine will be fun to track for the next 20 years - I will have to pace myself.
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Deep purple in the glass. Still obviously in its youth, but very nicely balanced with freshness, good plum and dark cherry fruit, and garrigue, pepper and spice. Wore its 15.5% alcohol well without being unctuous or over-extracted. Stood up well to smoky Texan bbq.
Now my go to wine for Christmas as a great match with ham. Deep garnet colour, great structure, aromatic some black currant. Will be interesting to see how it develops with age.
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Old vine mouth feel, jammy but not over extracted. Well balanced, paired well with ribeye. Nice structure and strong tannins on the mid palate. Long finish, cherries and bramble. Surprisingly, also paired very well with a basic chocolate cake - the slight sugar balanced the tannins beautifully. Given the tannins and the balance, I'd expect this to age very well
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Pours clear and clean, with red and black raspberry, spice, garrigue, and some rainbow peppercorn. Medium weighted, with a moderate concentration and a notable balance overall. Finishes with some black cherry and pepper notes. Drinks fine now with a 2+ hour decant, or hold over the next 5+ years. 92-94+ points. A little less concentrated and intense than some of the other major players in the CdP world.
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A lot more pepper, garrigue and brine on this bottle. Fruit is settling down a bit already and has lost some of the juicy punch. Let the rest lie a while. Not too roasted and alcohol not too high. I predict it will hold just fine
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Brooding and savoury nose with smoked nut, leather, dried cherries, and Christmas cake aromas. Rich, lush and assertive palate with great acidity and precision; really shows off as a exceptional quality wine with minerality, complexity, and intensity. 5/5
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(Decanted for three hours.) I had this wine beside the 2010 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée. Frankly I feared it would pale in such august company. Man, was I wrong! First is had a very nice and reassuring black plum color. The nose was fresh, lively and scented with black fruits, spring herbs, crushed lavender and a savory “cheesy” funk I associate with some red Burgundies. Though powerful and nearly full bodied in the mouth, the wine was nevertheless beautifully textured. Specifically, the plum jam, ripe blackberry, medjool date, anise cake and mushroom soup flavors were very lush yet smooth, layered and elegant. The moderately large tannins were well integrated and perfectly track the forty-second finish. Yes, the wine really is that good, and then some. For what it is worth I bought a case. 97++points.
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Wow, this was aromatically very open and firing on all cylinders. Lots of anise, lavander, with both dark and red fruits. Texturally very sound with good supportive acidity, if anything, the balance tilts a little to the lean side. I love the youthfulness of this wine, perhaps the buy of the vintage for me in terms of QPR. Will develop well for many years, although admittedly, I don't tend to like CdP past about 15-18 years.
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Southern Rhône trip with Rainer. Tasted at the Domaine. 80% Grenache, with some Syrah and some Mourvèdre. 15.5% ABV. Beautiful dark ruby colour. Red and dark fruit, herbal and mild vegetal notes, with supporting acidity, plenty of tannin and good length. Finished dry. The wine had a wild, animally aspect to it that I liked. Another step up from the regular cuvée and from the "A la Gloire de mon Grand-Père", in quality and character. Hold for at least ten years.
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Just way too young to bestow a numerical rating on this puppy. Deep, dark color on pouring with a prominent bouquet of melted black licorice, kirsch, and white pepper. Full and round on the palate with tons of blackberry liquer, more kirsch, Indian spices, and dark cherry. Tannins supple and slowly integrating. Give this wine some time to shed its baby fat....
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Stemmy, mint, peppery with dark fruits, cherry, dark plum. Tannins tight yet integrated. Full bodied with a long lingering finish. Still tight after 4 hours. Complex. Lots going on. Did not disappoint and looking forward to the next one in 3-5 years.
2016 CdP (and some other wines over dinner) (NY Racquet and Tennis Club): I went back to this one a few times during the night since it did reasonably well in the point scoring and I felt like I had to be missing something. Didn't ever really get interesting for me though. This wine is muted. It's tannin and a bit of chalkiness. Young for sure. But even trying to poke through I didn't sense much coming. Not the fruit that CdP is so known for and not some of the more savory or different notes. For me, just didn't really do it.
Dark garnet in color, the 2016 le merle is a shockingly good wine. Bright red strawberry and floral aromatics, this wine is beautiful to try in its youth. Layers of candied cherry, raspberry, and macerated strawberry flavors caress the palate. Full bodied with soft, approachable tannins, good supporting acidity and well concealed alcohol. If you have a few (or even just one) I would recommend to try early.
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Supple, silky, polished and refined, the black licorice juxtaposes perfectly with the pure, sweet, peppery, spiced, kirsch. This sexy wine is full bodied, elegant and poised. There is length and purity in a beautiful style that is perfect for this vintage. The wine was made using 86% old vine Grenache, 7% Syrah and 7% Mourvedre.
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4/25/2024 - tlogan9 Likes this wine: 92 Points
Very nice blend. Lighter than expected base on the ABV. Prominent acid on the palate. Lingering flavor of raspberry.
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8/15/2023 - Reddark Likes this wine: 94 Points
레드커런트, 감초, 담배,페퍼,가죽. 15.5%, 미디엄 풀바디. 긴피니쉬. Very good.
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5/19/2023 - Brent25 wrote: 89 Points
Clear medium ruby; clean medium plus nose of red cherry liquor, blackberry cordial, raspberry jam, barnyard, rubber and florality; dry; high acidity; medium tannins; high alcohol; medium plus body; pronounced flavour intensity; palate has fruit payoff with addition of candied fruit, brandy, baking spices, raisins and cocoa; long finish; do not drink - wait another 3 years; a hot mess and almost undrinkable out of the bottle - all alcohol and Koolaid; a 1 hour decant helped a little; hoping that the wine will settle down with additional age and/or that this was a bad bottle
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5/5/2023 - VAGenius Likes this wine: 91 Points
60 minute decant. Vague, light nose of cherry and red fruits. Powerful palate of red cherry, peppery red fruits, and a note red Kool-Aid with acidity that leads into an equally powerful finish of leather, candied fruits, red plum, cranberry and garrigue. It's balanced, but didn't show as well as expected. Not sure it'll improve but we'll see.
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4/29/2023 - WineDuq Does not like this wine: 88 Points
Alcohol and stewed/baked fruit on the nose. No freshness. 2015 was the same. Shows all of its 15.5% alcohol. Ripe fruit sweetness, but the alcohol dominates and the baked notes not to my taste. Seems like a relic from the Parkerized wines of the early 2000s. Pass on this producer in the future.
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1/7/2023 - Bottle Dog Likes this wine: 93 Points
After PnP. Dark ruby red. Awesome forest floor on the nose. Roses, dark red fruit, and earthy mushrooms. Medium body with lovely tannins and bright acidity giving it lingering goodness. Really enjoyable to drink and I expect will still improve.
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11/21/2022 - Andybe Likes this wine: 97 Points
Bob Seger and his silver bullets already knows..still the same !
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8/10/2022 - yasha Likes this wine: 95 Points
Great CDP
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12/30/2021 - VAGenius Likes this wine: 94 Points
Nose of fresh thyme, dark cherry, red earth, and sawdust. Black cherry palate with leather, black olive, menthol, smoked meat, black plum, and minerals. Peppery, spicy start to the finish shows some initial firmness followed by a rush of dry raspberry, cherry, dried oregano, iron, and finally old oak, wet dirt, and chewy tannins. Opened up after a couple hours in the glass - maybe needs another year or two?
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12/25/2021 - AndyStuttgart Likes this wine: 95 Points
Great red berries, raspberry, cherry, sloe, smooth and creamy, well balanced with a chalk base. Really nice - needs time to open.
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12/19/2021 - Eric wrote:
A mini-celebration of Philippe Cambie; 12/19/2021-12/25/2021: Wonderful, soaring, white pepper, pine and garrigue over a concentrated, Grenache driven palate. At first it seemed sharp and a bit volatile, but with time and air it showed more of the red-fruited raspberry and cherry of a more traditional Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Vibrant and spicy, a powerful wine but the more it airs the more traditional it tastes. Labeled at 15.8%, it doesn't feel anything like that. Tons of herbes de provence and potpourri, spicy and delicious.
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7/31/2021 - PapaGreenz Likes this wine: 93 Points
Excellent, decant 1-2 hours, very expressive / delicious
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6/20/2021 - Nutty08 wrote: flawed
Old sample from a week or so prior. Oxidized. But seemed to have great fruit underneath.
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6/6/2021 - jviz wrote: 95 Points
As CdPs go, this wine is just incredible, and the best quality for price that I have yet tried in an excellent vintage. My 5th bottle, this was very open and showy from the get go, although it improved in the glass over an hour.
Dark garnet, with nose of black cherry and anise, it is full and expansive. Noticeable but not distracting alcohols add to the bouquet. I would agree with a prior post that there is not much garrigue/savory happening here. But it is a melange of red and dark fruits with cinnamon spice, with good acidity and persistence.
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5/12/2021 - samatoid Likes this wine: 95 Points
I've been drinking this wine for about 2 years now - maybe I've shared 8-12 bottles. I have not noted garrigue once. Just to check my sanity I pulled out fresh bag of herbs de Provence and didn't note any similarity (neither did my wife). The nose is either strong fennel or red licorice (some fruity flavoring with anise). The palate is harder to describe, but very satisfying and long. The palette is a perfect blend of fennel with rich grape juice. I wouldn't call it berries or cherries. It's like a young Napa cab (like a Dunn Napa) with a fennel overtone. This wine will be fun to track for the next 20 years - I will have to pace myself.
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1/31/2021 - Isaac L wrote: 92 Points
Deep purple in the glass. Still obviously in its youth, but very nicely balanced with freshness, good plum and dark cherry fruit, and garrigue, pepper and spice. Wore its 15.5% alcohol well without being unctuous or over-extracted. Stood up well to smoky Texan bbq.
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12/25/2020 - Get Real Likes this wine: 92 Points
Now my go to wine for Christmas as a great match with ham. Deep garnet colour, great structure, aromatic some black currant. Will be interesting to see how it develops with age.
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6/24/2020 - cubswinws Likes this wine: 93 Points
Very nice wine with good deep plum color and a wonderful freshness with spice and touch of garrigue on the finish.
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5/25/2020 - DannyB1991 Likes this wine:
Old vine mouth feel, jammy but not over extracted. Well balanced, paired well with ribeye. Nice structure and strong tannins on the mid palate. Long finish, cherries and bramble. Surprisingly, also paired very well with a basic chocolate cake - the slight sugar balanced the tannins beautifully. Given the tannins and the balance, I'd expect this to age very well
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4/26/2020 - csimm wrote: 94 Points
Pours clear and clean, with red and black raspberry, spice, garrigue, and some rainbow peppercorn. Medium weighted, with a moderate concentration and a notable balance overall. Finishes with some black cherry and pepper notes. Drinks fine now with a 2+ hour decant, or hold over the next 5+ years. 92-94+ points. A little less concentrated and intense than some of the other major players in the CdP world.
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3/29/2020 - jviz wrote: 93 Points
A lot more pepper, garrigue and brine on this bottle. Fruit is settling down a bit already and has lost some of the juicy punch. Let the rest lie a while. Not too roasted and alcohol not too high. I predict it will hold just fine
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1/8/2020 - Double-A Likes this wine: 95 Points
Brooding and savoury nose with smoked nut, leather, dried cherries, and Christmas cake aromas. Rich, lush and assertive palate with great acidity and precision; really shows off as a exceptional quality wine with minerality, complexity, and intensity.
5/5
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12/1/2019 - JGvine wrote:
Superior Chateau du pap
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11/3/2019 - Wine Fool Likes this wine: 97 Points
(Decanted for three hours.) I had this wine beside the 2010 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée. Frankly I feared it would pale in such august company. Man, was I wrong! First is had a very nice and reassuring black plum color. The nose was fresh, lively and scented with black fruits, spring herbs, crushed lavender and a savory “cheesy” funk I associate with some red Burgundies. Though powerful and nearly full bodied in the mouth, the wine was nevertheless beautifully textured. Specifically, the plum jam, ripe blackberry, medjool date, anise cake and mushroom soup flavors were very lush yet smooth, layered and elegant. The moderately large tannins were well integrated and perfectly track the forty-second finish. Yes, the wine really is that good, and then some. For what it is worth I bought a case. 97++points.
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9/23/2019 - jviz Likes this wine: 95 Points
Wow, this was aromatically very open and firing on all cylinders. Lots of anise, lavander, with both dark and red fruits. Texturally very sound with good supportive acidity, if anything, the balance tilts a little to the lean side. I love the youthfulness of this wine, perhaps the buy of the vintage for me in terms of QPR. Will develop well for many years, although admittedly, I don't tend to like CdP past about 15-18 years.
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8/2/2019 - PSPatrick wrote: 91 Points
Southern Rhône trip with Rainer. Tasted at the Domaine. 80% Grenache, with some Syrah and some Mourvèdre. 15.5% ABV. Beautiful dark ruby colour. Red and dark fruit, herbal and mild vegetal notes, with supporting acidity, plenty of tannin and good length. Finished dry. The wine had a wild, animally aspect to it that I liked. Another step up from the regular cuvée and from the "A la Gloire de mon Grand-Père", in quality and character. Hold for at least ten years.
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7/2/2019 - drdan8 wrote:
Just way too young to bestow a numerical rating on this puppy.
Deep, dark color on pouring with a prominent bouquet of melted black licorice, kirsch, and white pepper.
Full and round on the palate with tons of blackberry liquer, more kirsch, Indian spices, and dark cherry. Tannins supple and slowly integrating.
Give this wine some time to shed its baby fat....
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6/16/2019 - ClayAE Likes this wine: 96 Points
Stemmy, mint, peppery with dark fruits, cherry, dark plum. Tannins tight yet integrated. Full bodied with a long lingering finish. Still tight after 4 hours. Complex. Lots going on. Did not disappoint and looking forward to the next one in 3-5 years.
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5/23/2019 - MC2 Wines wrote:
2016 CdP (and some other wines over dinner) (NY Racquet and Tennis Club): I went back to this one a few times during the night since it did reasonably well in the point scoring and I felt like I had to be missing something. Didn't ever really get interesting for me though. This wine is muted. It's tannin and a bit of chalkiness. Young for sure. But even trying to poke through I didn't sense much coming. Not the fruit that CdP is so known for and not some of the more savory or different notes. For me, just didn't really do it.
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5/14/2019 - Andybe Likes this wine: 97 Points
Bang bang .... my CndP shot me down.
Great ! Give it one hour to fill its holster.
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2/9/2019 - jviz wrote: 96 Points
Dark garnet in color, the 2016 le merle is a shockingly good wine. Bright red strawberry and floral aromatics, this wine is beautiful to try in its youth. Layers of candied cherry, raspberry, and macerated strawberry flavors caress the palate. Full bodied with soft, approachable tannins, good supporting acidity and well concealed alcohol. If you have a few (or even just one) I would recommend to try early.
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9/18/2018 - Jeff Leve wrote: 98 Points
Supple, silky, polished and refined, the black licorice juxtaposes perfectly with the pure, sweet, peppery, spiced, kirsch. This sexy wine is full bodied, elegant and poised. There is length and purity in a beautiful style that is perfect for this vintage. The wine was made using 86% old vine Grenache, 7% Syrah and 7% Mourvedre.
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