In view of my note earlier this month, I thought it best to approach another of my four remaining bottles tonight. The colour spectrum was the same: weak core, brick-red and tawny at fringe. This bottle seemed more aromatic - the raspberry being more evident, riper and not allowing the wood to dominate. The mellow mouth took only 10 minutes to begin showing sweetness and length, which surprised me by persisting for 90 minutes. While being a better bottle than the one previously, it still didn't reach the captivating highs of the bottle in May 2023. Very good, though.
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This bottle showed a brick-red colour, with a weak core, going to tawny at the fringe. Earthy, malty, old fuder-type oak with rather lame grenache dominating in the challenged fruit department. A bit over an hour later, there was some very faded raspberry, but the nose didn't develop any further. Sweetish, broad, mellow and old fruit mouth was more Côtes-du-Rhône than Châteauneuf. Slightly drying tannins. This bottle never opened the window to the engrossing highs of the bottles had in the first half of 2022 and 2023. Merely good plus.
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More than a year later, another bottle is retrieved from the cellar. This one shows evidence of an old leak and the level is 3cm below the cork. Looking different to the previous bottle, being a medium garnet with a dark brown edge. Oxidized nose, but recovery is achieved at 10 minutes, at which point it noses most attractively, with mature dark-fruit, leather and barrique scents. This time I can't pinpoint the mourvedre or, more surprisingly, the grenache, the nose here being more wholly than the sum of its parts as was the case previously. In its initial state, the palate is oxidized and thin, but then it builds body, depth and richness. Quite a treat and between very good plus and fine for about 30 minutes, before reverting to its initial state. This is Châteauneuf is a wine for a table of four to six if one is to best utilize the short drinking window, too short for a couple to make the best of the bottle.
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This Magnum bottle was a real positive experience. My expectations were not too high as 2 in the last two years tasted regular 75cl bottles turned out to be disappointing.
Not decanted, opened 30 minutes upfront and drank over three hours.
Ruby red color with orange reflexes. Nose of cherries, plums with herbal notes. Long lasting on palate with nice sweetness. The 14,5% alcohol are very well integrated. It appears as a very well aged, elegant but still warm Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Really nice.
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Bottle drunk in the last week of January, not decanted. Light ruby colour with a russet fringe, but at 40 minutes, the light ruby changes to a brick red. Undersized nose. Hey, where's the fruit? I should have decanted, but reading some recent tasting notes, I was worried that the wine was too fragile for that. The fruit does arrive, starting with the mourvedre showing some live-animal fur and at 20 minutes the nose is well behaved. It takes the grenache a further 10 minutes to give a nice light-red berry lift.
The fist mouth reveals a wine of medium body due to the 14.5% alcohol, but also one that is lean, acidic and with little fruit. Later, there is some dark-fruited berry developing courtesy of the mourvedre, but it's still too acidic. But at 20 minutes, I'm feeling grip as the wine develops and the good fruit therein emerges, balancing the acidity and adding sweetness to the finish. At 30 minutes, the palate is getting sweeter still. However, at 1 hour and 20 minutes, it's lost the sweetness. The duration of the sweet-spot returns my mind to the mechanically operated parking-meters in the central-business district of Melbourne in the 1970's, with the moving arrow pointing to the the time remaining. Once the hour was up, a spring in the meter released an "expired" sign in red. And so it was the case here. This very good wine delivers very nicely indeed between 20 and 80 minutes, but a moment later, you know your time's up.
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2/25/2024 - Ingmars wrote:
In view of my note earlier this month, I thought it best to approach another of my four remaining bottles tonight. The colour spectrum was the same: weak core, brick-red and tawny at fringe. This bottle seemed more aromatic - the raspberry being more evident, riper and not allowing the wood to dominate. The mellow mouth took only 10 minutes to begin showing sweetness and length, which surprised me by persisting for 90 minutes. While being a better bottle than the one previously, it still didn't reach the captivating highs of the bottle in May 2023. Very good, though.
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2/9/2024 - Ingmars wrote:
This bottle showed a brick-red colour, with a weak core, going to tawny at the fringe. Earthy, malty, old fuder-type oak with rather lame grenache dominating in the challenged fruit department. A bit over an hour later, there was some very faded raspberry, but the nose didn't develop any further. Sweetish, broad, mellow and old fruit mouth was more Côtes-du-Rhône than Châteauneuf. Slightly drying tannins. This bottle never opened the window to the engrossing highs of the bottles had in the first half of 2022 and 2023. Merely good plus.
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5/12/2023 - Ingmars wrote:
More than a year later, another bottle is retrieved from the cellar. This one shows evidence of an old leak and the level is 3cm below the cork. Looking different to the previous bottle, being a medium garnet with a dark brown edge. Oxidized nose, but recovery is achieved at 10 minutes, at which point it noses most attractively, with mature dark-fruit, leather and barrique scents. This time I can't pinpoint the mourvedre or, more surprisingly, the grenache, the nose here being more wholly than the sum of its parts as was the case previously. In its initial state, the palate is oxidized and thin, but then it builds body, depth and richness. Quite a treat and between very good plus and fine for about 30 minutes, before reverting to its initial state. This is Châteauneuf is a wine for a table of four to six if one is to best utilize the short drinking window, too short for a couple to make the best of the bottle.
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4/3/2022 - drwinston Likes this wine: 91 Points
This Magnum bottle was a real positive experience. My expectations were not too high as 2 in the last two years tasted regular 75cl bottles turned out to be disappointing.
Not decanted, opened 30 minutes upfront and drank over three hours.
Ruby red color with orange reflexes. Nose of cherries, plums with herbal notes. Long lasting on palate with nice sweetness. The 14,5% alcohol are very well integrated. It appears as a very well aged, elegant but still warm Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Really nice.
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2/3/2022 - Ingmars wrote:
Bottle drunk in the last week of January, not decanted. Light ruby colour with a russet fringe, but at 40 minutes, the light ruby changes to a brick red. Undersized nose. Hey, where's the fruit? I should have decanted, but reading some recent tasting notes, I was worried that the wine was too fragile for that. The fruit does arrive, starting with the mourvedre showing some live-animal fur and at 20 minutes the nose is well behaved. It takes the grenache a further 10 minutes to give a nice light-red berry lift.
The fist mouth reveals a wine of medium body due to the 14.5% alcohol, but also one that is lean, acidic and with little fruit. Later, there is some dark-fruited berry developing courtesy of the mourvedre, but it's still too acidic. But at 20 minutes, I'm feeling grip as the wine develops and the good fruit therein emerges, balancing the acidity and adding sweetness to the finish. At 30 minutes, the palate is getting sweeter still. However, at 1 hour and 20 minutes, it's lost the sweetness. The duration of the sweet-spot returns my mind to the mechanically operated parking-meters in the central-business district of Melbourne in the 1970's, with the moving arrow pointing to the the time remaining. Once the hour was up, a spring in the meter released an "expired" sign in red. And so it was the case here. This very good wine delivers very nicely indeed between 20 and 80 minutes, but a moment later, you know your time's up.
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