2001 Château du Mourre du Tendre Châteauneuf-du-Pape

• By Stephen Tanzer
  January/February 2003, IWC Issue #106, (See more on Vinous...)

  (Chateau du Mourre du Tendre Chateauneuf du Pape) Login and sign up and see review text.

Garagiste

• By Jon Rimmerman
  12/13/2007, (See more on Garagiste...)

  (Mourre du Tendre CdP) Chateauneuf du Pape Dear Friends, I may seem like an apprentice at Hyde Park corner in the offer below but it is important to pick your causes and this is one of mine (along with 1000 others). While this wine will not impact world peace or save 1000 lbs of carbon from being exhaled into the atmosphere, it will help reverse the omnipresent trend in the Southern Rhone that the “truth” indeed lies. Why doesn’t Mourre de Tendre get the notoriety of something like Clos des Papes? Is it because the wine received an 89-91 barrel rating? If that’s true, that’s a joke. This wine is one of the most individual, rugged and potentially complex wines in all of Chateauneuf and it would be held on a mantle by most of you. Their old-school method of holding the wine until ready to drink (in this case, the 2001 is the current release) causes confusion in the marketplace but this practice is the same one employed by Henri Bonneau and it doesn’t seem to hurt his place in history. While this ritual is one that very few producers in Chateauneuf du Pape can afford to continue, it is more to do with pure economics than anything else - it is very costly to hold wine back for 5-6 years after the production vintage (when you could release it after only 12 months and let the consumer carry the burden of ageing) but Mourre de Tendre continues to do it and they will not deviate from their course. In the end, it’s about the wine and the blood, iron and pulp of old-vine Grenache that race around the structured and tannic frame of this beverage may be too much for some but I would argue it is the real soul of Chateauneuf du Pape. No luxury cuvee, no new oak, no tricks or games - a soapbox for my traditional rants? Maybe, but the wine is in the bottle - just give it a few more years (I actually think they could have held this back for 1-3 more years). This is a wine I purchase for my personal cellar as it harkens to an era circa 1970 or 1978 - one where the wall of galets pounding your palate was more of an indicator of worth than the toast level of the cooperage. If you enjoy the new tidal wave of CdP producers, you owe it to your palate to try one of the last old-guard left standing - I think you’ll be glad you did: I'll step down from the podium now - its exhausting (but worth every keystroke) HIGHLY RECOMMENDED EXTREMELY LIMITED (you may be able to find this cheaper on the East Coast but I’m fairly sure most of the US allocation has already been sold through) This parcel has perfect provenance directly from the source: 2001 Mourre du Tendre Chateauneuf du Pape (WA89-91)(IWC91-93) Thank you, Jon Rimmerman Garagiste Seattle, WA Rhone8820