Cellar stored since release. Decanted for 90 minutes. Rich black color, no sign of age, nose is like huffing high alcohol black plum and pepper syrup, intense, but kind of linear and not very interesting . Some black mineral bite in the mouth, some ferrous, dried sour cherries macerated in an iron vessel with fine vintage port. Not thick or viscous, but I agree with commenters who said this might be “too big”. Finish is firm, tannic, a bit hot. Ill hold my last two bottles for 3-4 years and see what happens. I almost wish they had skipped ‘03, as this special cuvee aint so special, aside from its expected concentration . Tasted blind with a 2000 Chateau Bellevue, the latter scored 2 points higher and worked better with grass fed beef.
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2003 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin Drank as part of Beaucastel mini vertical tasting. The only Hommage in the flight which also included the 2003 regular bottling. This is a hard wine to judge. Only my second Hommage in thirty years of wine tasting; not a lot to compare it to and so different from the regular cuvee. Quite shy to begin with and only began to open up after two hours in the glass (4 hours after decanting); combination of black and red fruit, black olives and black tea. The palate is viscous and provides intense flavour of ripe red cherry and prunes on the mid palate; then just coasts to a long finish with ripe dusty tannins. Left a glassful in the bottle and applied Private Preserve and came back to in in four days. The nose stayed almost the same with just touch more of black plums. The palate is in perfect balance from the first sip to the long finish. Just very slight heat at the very very end. Wow!
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Extraordinary perfumed nose, Asian spices, cardamom, pepper, cherry, currants, so lush and complex you almost didn't want to drink it, elegant, balanced, almost feminine in the mouth, long finish, shared with multiple people from magnum, everyone was blown away, a real show stopper
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Hommage a DryCab - Washington Wines release; 5/3/2018-5/5/2018 (Various spots in Walla Walla): Still a total baby. Not sure if there was any decanting that happened with this, but it certainly felt like it started a bit tighter. Still not quite the same structure that you see on some of the hommages that usually stands out to me. Dark red fruits. Black pepper. A bit of tannin. A wine that needs some more years, but really benefited from some time in the glass. Fun to also try next to the '99.
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Wow, simply stunning tonight with a kaleidoscope of flavors including sweet blackberry, dark red spices and smoked meats. Finishes ultra-complex with notes of mineral and wild flowers. Floral and perfumed with great intensity and lots of exotic but not overripe flavors. This is one 2003 that got it right and it's drinking so well right now! Incredible match with the partridge and quail pithiiviers at the Daniel Game Dinner.
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Decanted for an hour or so before sharing with my wife and mother in law. Surprisingly good. I expected some Beaucastel funk, but it was only present for a few minutes on opening.
I didn’t make any notes at the time, but the tannins were very fine, and it was a great old world CDP. It was my last bottle of this and I wish I had more. It’s drinking wonderfully now. Much better than the last bottle I had.
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This was scary bad when just opened. Completely off balance with a sharp taste of rust and blood piercing through. Hour 3 brought the bottle back to balance and all the hawthorn, berries, flower came back singing. The rust is still there but in a harmonious symphony with the other elements. Drinking this feels like sucking on a nail that's just dipped in hawthorn jam and honey -- in the best possible way. Lovely.
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Flickinger Warehouse Tasting (Chicago, IL): From magnum. Yes, this is very, very ripe. Yes, there's boatloads of fruit. But you know what's not there? Offensive oak. Or too much funk. This bottle doesn't have that same confected quality I found in the 2001, but there's lots of sweet red fruit here. This is superbly balanced for a scary vintage, and there's no cloying sweetness to be found here at all.
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Very dark with a mahogany tint... Fragrant nose with an initial aroma of oak sap that blew off quickly and was replaced by black cherries, leather, vanilla, coffee, garrigue. Tart, with red current fruit flavors, but rather short finish that seems a bit bitter and ends on a note of forest loam. A bit disappointing, but given the challenges of this very hot vintage, perhaps one shouldn't complain. I would drink up if you own this.
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Dinner with the Boys (Bistro Pastis): Tasted blind. Brief notes. This had a weird nose of boiled cereal and warm jammy fruit. The palate was dense and over the top with liquor-like richness and warmth. Not my style at all.
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I was disappointed in this bottle. It did not nearly have the lively character and obvious raspberry flavours that the 2007 I had a year or so ago. It was a very nice bottle of wine, but considering the price point I wanted more out of it.
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Deep in color, with a meaty, spicy, black cherry, boysenberry, earth, fennel and peppery nose, the wine lacks the incredible depth and richness that is normally found in its character. Perhaps, this is due to higher concentration of Grenache in the blend. In the finish, it offers a good feel of concentrated, ripe, jammy, red and black fruits. Still young, tannic and built to age, the wine needs more time to come together.
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Not quite to the standard as the 1998 I had a few weeks back, but this was good! Meaty wine with great sweet red fruits. I saved about 2 ounces in a glass and went back to it about 4 hours after opening, this was so incredibly balanced it was silly. Still needs much more time, but fun to drink
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Meaty and dense but clean red fruits and violet undertones. Full palate, with a weighty mouthfeel and ripe fruits, and good balance throughout; still, overly clean for what I'm looking for from Beaucastel, but clearly a good wine.
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Ripe red fruits. Intense of course, but not as much as I expected or as the vintage might lead one to believe. Well structured. Not particularly CdP like, and more in the style of the '99 than, for instance, the dark and meaty '98. Enjoyable, but a disappointment at the tariff.
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Ray Goder Truffle Dinner (Saddle & Cycle Club): From mag. Full purple/red color. Forward rich aroma of blcak casssis and white pepper. Big bold tannic black fruit with a abit of jamminess on the finish. A baby, but good stuffing.
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7/22/2023 - OenoEd wrote: 91 Points
Cellar stored since release. Decanted for 90 minutes. Rich black color, no sign of age, nose is like huffing high alcohol black plum and pepper syrup, intense, but kind of linear and not very interesting . Some black mineral bite in the mouth, some ferrous, dried sour cherries macerated in an iron vessel with fine vintage port. Not thick or viscous, but I agree with commenters who said this might be “too big”. Finish is firm, tannic, a bit hot. Ill hold my last two bottles for 3-4 years and see what happens. I almost wish they had skipped ‘03, as this special cuvee aint so special, aside from its expected concentration . Tasted blind with a 2000 Chateau Bellevue, the latter scored 2 points higher and worked better with grass fed beef.
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2/26/2023 - ubercuvee wrote:
Not sure if the bottle was a bit oxidised but this came across as a horrendously porty, overripe mess. bleh
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6/2/2022 - Milos Likes this wine: 95 Points
2003 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin
Drank as part of Beaucastel mini vertical tasting. The only Hommage in the flight which also included the 2003 regular bottling. This is a hard wine to judge. Only my second Hommage in thirty years of wine tasting; not a lot to compare it to and so different from the regular cuvee. Quite shy to begin with and only began to open up after two hours in the glass (4 hours after decanting); combination of black and red fruit, black olives and black tea. The palate is viscous and provides intense flavour of ripe red cherry and prunes on the mid palate; then just coasts to a long finish with ripe dusty tannins. Left a glassful in the bottle and applied Private Preserve and came back to in in four days. The nose stayed almost the same with just touch more of black plums. The palate is in perfect balance from the first sip to the long finish. Just very slight heat at the very very end. Wow!
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6/6/2021 - ShadowIII Likes this wine: 97 Points
Extraordinary perfumed nose, Asian spices, cardamom, pepper, cherry, currants, so lush and complex you almost didn't want to drink it, elegant, balanced, almost feminine in the mouth, long finish, shared with multiple people from magnum, everyone was blown away, a real show stopper
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9/4/2019 - RayOB wrote: 90 Points
Drank in London
Really big, maybe too big
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7/17/2019 - Jeff Leve wrote: 93 Points
Almost overripe, the wine is rich, full bodied and ready to go. But it lacks some definition and complexity found in the top years.
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5/3/2018 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Hommage a DryCab - Washington Wines release; 5/3/2018-5/5/2018 (Various spots in Walla Walla): Still a total baby. Not sure if there was any decanting that happened with this, but it certainly felt like it started a bit tighter. Still not quite the same structure that you see on some of the hommages that usually stands out to me. Dark red fruits. Black pepper. A bit of tannin. A wine that needs some more years, but really benefited from some time in the glass. Fun to also try next to the '99.
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12/21/2017 - dream Likes this wine: 96 Points
Wow, simply stunning tonight with a kaleidoscope of flavors including sweet blackberry, dark red spices and smoked meats. Finishes ultra-complex with notes of mineral and wild flowers. Floral and perfumed with great intensity and lots of exotic but not overripe flavors. This is one 2003 that got it right and it's drinking so well right now! Incredible match with the partridge and quail pithiiviers at the Daniel Game Dinner.
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11/19/2017 - Turtlerider Likes this wine:
Decanted for an hour or so before sharing with my wife and mother in law. Surprisingly good. I expected some Beaucastel funk, but it was only present for a few minutes on opening.
I didn’t make any notes at the time, but the tannins were very fine, and it was a great old world CDP. It was my last bottle of this and I wish I had more. It’s drinking wonderfully now. Much better than the last bottle I had.
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11/10/2017 - KillerBs Likes this wine: 93 Points
2017 - Needs at least 5 more years to develop
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12/24/2016 - convex Likes this wine: 95 Points
This was scary bad when just opened. Completely off balance with a sharp taste of rust and blood piercing through. Hour 3 brought the bottle back to balance and all the hawthorn, berries, flower came back singing. The rust is still there but in a harmonious symphony with the other elements. Drinking this feels like sucking on a nail that's just dipped in hawthorn jam and honey -- in the best possible way. Lovely.
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9/10/2016 - acyso wrote: 93 Points
Flickinger Warehouse Tasting (Chicago, IL): From magnum. Yes, this is very, very ripe. Yes, there's boatloads of fruit. But you know what's not there? Offensive oak. Or too much funk. This bottle doesn't have that same confected quality I found in the 2001, but there's lots of sweet red fruit here. This is superbly balanced for a scary vintage, and there's no cloying sweetness to be found here at all.
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4/19/2016 - The Vines That Bind wrote:
Château Beaucastel Hommage à Jacques Perrin Dinner (Vaucluse): [Magnum] Leathery and drying berry fruit on the nose, not a tremendous degree of earth showing. Juicy blueberry and blackberry on the palate. Big, young, extracted, and hot.
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4/19/2016 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Hommage a Jacques Perrin (and what an Hommage it was!) (Vaucluse (short trip to Aldo Sohm to finish the night)): A bit more primary in nature, fruit forward, little bits of smoke, somehow not quite as well-structured as the others, but might just be the phase it's in. It's still quite tasty and I'm splitting hairs here, but that's what one does when faced with 14 fabulous wines side by side.
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12/6/2015 - KPB wrote: 91 Points
Very dark with a mahogany tint... Fragrant nose with an initial aroma of oak sap that blew off quickly and was replaced by black cherries, leather, vanilla, coffee, garrigue. Tart, with red current fruit flavors, but rather short finish that seems a bit bitter and ends on a note of forest loam. A bit disappointing, but given the challenges of this very hot vintage, perhaps one shouldn't complain. I would drink up if you own this.
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7/19/2015 - Dehrmann Likes this wine: 92 Points
Too bold - very ripe
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8/8/2014 - godx wrote:
Dinner with the Boys (Bistro Pastis): Tasted blind. Brief notes. This had a weird nose of boiled cereal and warm jammy fruit. The palate was dense and over the top with liquor-like richness and warmth. Not my style at all.
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6/21/2014 - Smooth Jazz Does not like this wine: 88 Points
Medium bodied, young but not very tannic, (over)ripe berry and spice flavors, not a long finish - dies down really fast.
Overall not very enjoyable and doesn't seem to have the stuffing to improve and surprise with time.
Total pass at the price level.
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2/15/2014 - Turtlerider Likes this wine:
I was disappointed in this bottle. It did not nearly have the lively character and obvious raspberry flavours that the 2007 I had a year or so ago. It was a very nice bottle of wine, but considering the price point I wanted more out of it.
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8/17/2013 - dcwino wrote: 95 Points
Kelly’s visit, two nights of great wines - Burgundy and Rhone (Marks duckhouse, Falls Church, Va): Blackberry and raspberry, fruitcake and baking spices. Although there is a hint of liqueur, it is not an obvious example of the 03 CDPs. Excellent concentration, intense sweet fruit attack and nicely integrated tannins. Still pretty primary.
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8/29/2012 - Jeff Leve wrote: 95 Points
Deep in color, with a meaty, spicy, black cherry, boysenberry, earth, fennel and peppery nose, the wine lacks the incredible depth and richness that is normally found in its character. Perhaps, this is due to higher concentration of Grenache in the blend. In the finish, it offers a good feel of concentrated, ripe, jammy, red and black fruits. Still young, tannic and built to age, the wine needs more time to come together.
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3/27/2009 - zimmy07 wrote: 93 Points
Not quite to the standard as the 1998 I had a few weeks back, but this was good! Meaty wine with great sweet red fruits. I saved about 2 ounces in a glass and went back to it about 4 hours after opening, this was so incredibly balanced it was silly. Still needs much more time, but fun to drink
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3/27/2009 - psmith wrote:
Meaty and dense but clean red fruits and violet undertones. Full palate, with a weighty mouthfeel and ripe fruits, and good balance throughout; still, overly clean for what I'm looking for from Beaucastel, but clearly a good wine.
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2/14/2009 - psmith wrote:
Ripe red fruits. Intense of course, but not as much as I expected or as the vintage might lead one to believe. Well structured. Not particularly CdP like, and more in the style of the '99 than, for instance, the dark and meaty '98. Enjoyable, but a disappointment at the tariff.
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11/18/2006 - Burgundy Al wrote: 91 Points
Second Annual White Truffle Dinner (Saddle and Cycle Cub - Chicago IL): Lush and close to jammy blackberry, plum aromas with some meaty spice. Same very fat and ripe dense fruit on palate. I'd give this plenty more time in the cellar to shed some baby fat.
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11/18/2006 - winefool wrote: 94 Points
Ray Goder Truffle Dinner (Saddle & Cycle Club): From mag. Full purple/red color. Forward rich aroma of blcak casssis and white pepper. Big bold tannic black fruit with a abit of jamminess on the finish. A baby, but good stuffing.
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