2005 Roger Sabon Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Prestige

Community Tasting Notes (61) Avg Score: 91.4 points

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  4/8/2024 - broadband013 wrote: 92 Points

  Topissime!
  À son apogée je pense, vraiment magnifique!

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  2/10/2024 - sfwinelover1 Likes this wine:

  Second of 2 (first: 5/21, 92). When I drank the first, I noted that it was early in its drinking window, and this bottle justified that call. While that one was quite nice, it skewed a bit cloying, but that’s been subsumed by forest floor, incense, funk, black tea, bitter chocolate and fig, among other notes, making for a more interesting, complex and rustic and less sweet wine. Particularly nice with a grilled pork chop and veggies one night, Indian food the next. Mid+ window now, with probably a few more good years in top form (taking in my window by 2 years). While this bottling doesn’t rank, for me, with my fave base CdPs, Close des Papes, Pegau and Beaucastel, more or less in that order, it’s reliably VG and compelling qpr. 93+ if scoring

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  6/10/2023 - M DU VIN Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Wish and unctuous with great fruit.

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  9/24/2022 - vinolovers wrote: 93 Points

  Opened with a dark coloring and an incredible nose of blackberries. The wine opened and the fruit notes faded a bit, letting the chocolate, kirsch and pepper appear. Incredibly smooth and well structured.

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  5/28/2021 - sfwinelover1 Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Unplanned CdP taste off in Noe Valley. In honor of my sis, the Francophile, and a delicious rack of lamb, I opened this Pegau (about $85 at last fall's private party purchase), joined, unexpectedly, per the below, with a 2005 Sabon Prestige (about $45 in the same buy). We did pretty much of a PnP with the Pegau, which came out of the bottle almost tawny, on the nose and palate with lots of garrigue, floral notes, cherry/kirsch and mixed dried spice; to jump forward a bit, though, the wine was wan, not just in color, but all of the elements, including the structure, tasted a bit washed out, as if this bottle had probably peaked 3-5 years ago, and in fact, my sis poured the remainder of her first glass down the sink when I opened the Sabon. The Sabon came out of the bottle exactly the opposite, with extraordinarily vibrant cherry, olives, smoked meats, and a tangy citric finish, but marred on the nose and palate with a somewhat boozy, port-y note.
  
  The skinny on the Pegau: tawny color which darkened--sounds crazy, but true--to a deep garnet, light bodied, subject to the below, medium legs. Light to moderate and well-integrated tannins, no heat. Per the changes below, light to medium complexity, light persistence and intensity.
  
  The Sabon: Dark garnet with a purplish brown tint, medium to full bodied, thick legs. Very good persistence and intensity, medium complexity.
  
  Ok, so here's where this gets interesting: as I mentioned, the Pegau came out what I can only call weak, and my sis was prepared to pour this bottle down the drain (my initial score, 88, hers 85), then we set it aside and opened, and had a glass of the Sabon. After the glass of the Sabon, which I'll come back to, and about an hour and a half had passed, we decided to double check on the Pegau before we did something rash, and with God as my witness, this 21 year old bottle came alive, darkening, becoming far more full-bodied and darker and developing the usual profound Pegau secondary and tertiary notes of tobacco, cedar, funk (although light for a Pegau, IMO) and an overall saline and savory feel. Not nearly as elegant as the '98 and with less apparent acidity than that bottling, this nonetheless checked all the boxes on fruit, structure, secondary notes and elegance and balance, even if with a lot less power than the '09, which I've had several times. Fabulous complement to the rack of lamb. Has continued to improve on night 2. 92 at end of night 1 to me, 93 on night 2, 91-92 for my sis at the end of night 1, 93 on night 2. So, to summarize, I'd actually be sure to give this a lot of air, subject to the usual caveats of bottle variation (which, IMO, become more pronounced in older wines, especially non-American ones) and how your bottle has been stored. With that said, it's drinking really well now, and with bottle variation and age, I concur with my CT friend Walker JFW that the likelihood of variation in this wine is more to the downside than up going forward, so I'd drink sooner than later.
  
  The Sabon also developed, if a bit more predictably. The boozy notes integrated well, but make no mistake; my sis categorized this wine has a very New World, even as an aught era CdP in a hot year, with more of a sweet than savory feel. Tasting notes remained relatively consistent, but just as the Pegau became more assertive, this wine mellowed, even if it's not my, nor I suspect many others', idea of mellow. Still, this remains incredibly youthful, far closer, I think, toward the start than the end of its drinking window, and does have potential to improve a point, maybe 2, with powerful tannins and a lovely, if underlying, acidity which should stand it in good stead for years to come. If you're drinking now, at least for my taste, I'd give it not less than an hour and a half of air. I didn't drink it with the lamb, but it had enough acidity and savoriness to work surprisingly well with a seafood risotto. 88-89 on opening, 92 at the end of night one and the same on night 2. Even with the relative convergence on night 2, these 2 wines did a good job of showing the diversity of CdPs, and while I wouldn't have done the side-by-side had I known how the Pegau was going to develop, I'm glad we did.
  
  NB: For a variety of reasons (my slow drinking at this point and a couple of invitations for dinners out at friends'), it took 5 days to polish this off, and this stayed at a solid 92 during the period. reiterate early drinking window with possibility for improvement.

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