Originally posted 10/07/02
Got together tonight with some of the locals to see how the 95 Chteauneufs are doing. At seven years of age, our thinking was that they just might be coming out of their slumber. Well, the lesson we learned tonight was that theyre still sleeping. While quite good and overall remarkably consistent, they all clearly needed more time.
The wines were served blind in flights of three, though the fourth flight consisted of only two wines, # 10 and # 11. My notes are in the order tasted.
The group's top five wines were 1) Fortia, 2) Vieux Tlgraph, 3) Beaucastel, 4) Pegau, 5) Vieux Donjon. My top three were the Beaucastel, Fortia and then the Pegau.
Brad
1985 Domaine du Vieux Tlgraph- Chteauneuf-du-Pape
Brought to warm things up, it started with a complex and enticing nose that while full of Brett and barnyard, had a beautiful, underlying vein of sweet red fruit liqueur with lavender and spice aromatics. Upon pouring, the flavors were fairly similar to the nose, though the wine seemed a bit on the thin side with lightly jarring acid levels. However, the wine unfortunately pulled a quick disappearing act and completely died in the glass. It was probably about a B/B- in the first couple of minutes, but it became undrinkable dump bucket fodder in ten.
Wine #1: 1995 Clos du Mont Olivet- Chteauneuf-du-Pape
Starts with a lactic, creaminess on the nose with rich black fruit and strong garrigue aromas. Still rather youthful on the palate with firm tannins. Quite spicy with a strong garrigue character. The fruit is a bit shy and staying in the shadows and theres that young Grenache burnt rubber thing going on. Some herbs show up on the finish. A nice wine that clearly needs more time. A-/B+ with Low A- potential.
Wine # 2: 1995 Le Vieux Donjon- Chteauneuf-du-Pape
Has a deeper, sweeter nose than wine #1 with ripe black fruit, spice, licorice and raw meat. More accessible than either wine #1 or #3, but lacks the depth and the heft off the other two. A nice blend of black and red fruit, spice, olive and meat. Firm and chewy tannins. Leave it a lone for a while. It needs some private time. A-/B+.
Wine # 3: 1995 Domaine du Vieux Tlgraph- Chteauneuf-du-Pape
Drinks the best of the flight, but is still being coy and needs further integration. More Burgundian in style than the others with a beautiful, perfumed raspberry nose with light spice and a hint of chocolate. On the palate it started off drinking rather well, but the tannin and acid levels really grew with time. I left some in my glass after the bags were taken off at the end of the flight and an hour later the wine had really closed up. However, in the span in which it was drinking well, there was delicious raspberry fruit, earth, spice and game flavors. Nice depth and mouthfeel. Solid A-.
Wine # 4: 1995 Ridge Vineyards- Mataro (thrown in as a double blind ringer)
What the? This aint no Chteauneuf. The nose is overripe black fruit thats been obliterated by vanilla/coconutty and completely overdone oak. On the palate, this was a truly horrific DNPIM (do not put in mouth) wine that lasted four seconds in my mouth solely because I could not get the spit bucket in front of my contorted face any faster. Given my recent comments about Ridge, I just want to assure Ridge fans that think I have some agenda that a) I dont, b) this wine was tasted double blind and I have a tableful of people that can vouch for my reaction. With the exception of two tasters, I believe the sentiment was shared by the rest of the group. This is a poster wine for the problem I have with Ridge these days. Undrinkable.
Wine # 5: 1995 Domaine Andr Brunel, Les Cailloux- Chteauneuf-du-Pape
A bit of a stewed, brown fruit note on the nose, suggesting that we have a mistreated bottle. Muted on the palate with garrigue, olive and spice flavors dominating with that stewed note coming up. Rather short on the finish. Almost assuredly a damaged bottle. NR.
Wine # 6: 1995 Close des Papes- Chteauneuf-du-Pape
Corked!
Mercifully, the second flight ended.
Wine #7: 1995 Chteau Fortia- Chteauneuf-du-Pape
A gorgeous and dare I say hedonistic nose to this wine. Sensual, penetrating aromas of jammy black fruit with integrated bakers spices, licorice and semi-sweet chocolate. The wine slinks across the palate in black fishnet stockings. Integrated, though still quite youthful. Flavors match aromas, though there was a substantial change in its character over the course of the night. From the get-go the flavors matched the aromas, with the fruit being delectable and supple. With air, though, the wine lost some of its sex appeal, unless one prefers their ladies au naturale, as a strong, yet enjoyable, game element emerged. Delicious. Solid A- to an A/A-.
Wine # 8: 1995 Domaine Andr Brunel- Chteauneuf-du-Pape
This is CDP that was made for the European market, but apparently reached our shores via the grey market. Alas, the wine was corked, though not so openly on the nose. The palate seemed stripped, however. NR.
Wine # 9: 1995 Domaine du Pegau- Chteauneuf-du-Pape
Classic, CDP nose of raspberry and red fruit, meat, spice and garrigue. Quite young and a bit closed down on the palate, but all the elements of a terrific wine are here. Flavors are similar to the aroma profile, though theres that burnt rubber element that will disappear when the wine integrates and matures further. Has just what I look for in a Chteauneuf. A- with Low A potential.
Wine # 10: 1995 Chteau Beaucastel- Chteauneuf-du-Pape
Fairly muted on the nose, though by the end of the evening there arose some beautifully pure fruit. I believe this was the vintage the estate changed things a bit and decided to keep the horses away from the vats. While shut down pretty firmly on the palate, theres plenty of heft and glycerine. The fruit is pretty buried, but theres a ripe and sappy quality to it. Great potential here. A.
Wine # 11: 1995 Font de Michelle, Cuve Etienne Gonnet,- Chteauneuf-du-Pape
Very cinnamon spicy aromas with raspberry and light chocolate. Tightly clenched on the palate with rather high acidity. Spice really dominates the wine at this time, though theres nice, elegant red fruit lurking underneath. While enjoyable, this is the most closed and atypical bottle of this wine that Ive had and its showing quite differently from one I had just a month or so ago. Its nowhere near as forward or integrated as every bottle Ive had in the past 1 years and the decadent raspberry fruit is not at the forefront. Still, a nice wine. Low A-.
Got together tonight with some of the locals to see how the 95 Chteauneufs are doing. At seven years of age, our thinking was that they just might be coming out of their slumber. Well, the lesson we learned tonight was that theyre still sleeping. While quite good and overall remarkably consistent, they all clearly needed more time.
The wines were served blind in flights of three, though the fourth flight consisted of only two wines, # 10 and # 11. My notes are in the order tasted.
The group's top five wines were 1) Fortia, 2) Vieux Tlgraph, 3) Beaucastel, 4) Pegau, 5) Vieux Donjon. My top three were the Beaucastel, Fortia and then the Pegau.
Brad
1985 Domaine du Vieux Tlgraph- Chteauneuf-du-Pape
Brought to warm things up, it started with a complex and enticing nose that while full of Brett and barnyard, had a beautiful, underlying vein of sweet red fruit liqueur with lavender and spice aromatics. Upon pouring, the flavors were fairly similar to the nose, though the wine seemed a bit on the thin side with lightly jarring acid levels. However, the wine unfortunately pulled a quick disappearing act and completely died in the glass. It was probably about a B/B- in the first couple of minutes, but it became undrinkable dump bucket fodder in ten.
Wine #1: 1995 Clos du Mont Olivet- Chteauneuf-du-Pape
Starts with a lactic, creaminess on the nose with rich black fruit and strong garrigue aromas. Still rather youthful on the palate with firm tannins. Quite spicy with a strong garrigue character. The fruit is a bit shy and staying in the shadows and theres that young Grenache burnt rubber thing going on. Some herbs show up on the finish. A nice wine that clearly needs more time. A-/B+ with Low A- potential.
Wine # 2: 1995 Le Vieux Donjon- Chteauneuf-du-Pape
Has a deeper, sweeter nose than wine #1 with ripe black fruit, spice, licorice and raw meat. More accessible than either wine #1 or #3, but lacks the depth and the heft off the other two. A nice blend of black and red fruit, spice, olive and meat. Firm and chewy tannins. Leave it a lone for a while. It needs some private time. A-/B+.
Wine # 3: 1995 Domaine du Vieux Tlgraph- Chteauneuf-du-Pape
Drinks the best of the flight, but is still being coy and needs further integration. More Burgundian in style than the others with a beautiful, perfumed raspberry nose with light spice and a hint of chocolate. On the palate it started off drinking rather well, but the tannin and acid levels really grew with time. I left some in my glass after the bags were taken off at the end of the flight and an hour later the wine had really closed up. However, in the span in which it was drinking well, there was delicious raspberry fruit, earth, spice and game flavors. Nice depth and mouthfeel. Solid A-.
Wine # 4: 1995 Ridge Vineyards- Mataro (thrown in as a double blind ringer)
What the? This aint no Chteauneuf. The nose is overripe black fruit thats been obliterated by vanilla/coconutty and completely overdone oak. On the palate, this was a truly horrific DNPIM (do not put in mouth) wine that lasted four seconds in my mouth solely because I could not get the spit bucket in front of my contorted face any faster. Given my recent comments about Ridge, I just want to assure Ridge fans that think I have some agenda that a) I dont, b) this wine was tasted double blind and I have a tableful of people that can vouch for my reaction. With the exception of two tasters, I believe the sentiment was shared by the rest of the group. This is a poster wine for the problem I have with Ridge these days. Undrinkable.
Wine # 5: 1995 Domaine Andr Brunel, Les Cailloux- Chteauneuf-du-Pape
A bit of a stewed, brown fruit note on the nose, suggesting that we have a mistreated bottle. Muted on the palate with garrigue, olive and spice flavors dominating with that stewed note coming up. Rather short on the finish. Almost assuredly a damaged bottle. NR.
Wine # 6: 1995 Close des Papes- Chteauneuf-du-Pape
Corked!
Mercifully, the second flight ended.
Wine #7: 1995 Chteau Fortia- Chteauneuf-du-Pape
A gorgeous and dare I say hedonistic nose to this wine. Sensual, penetrating aromas of jammy black fruit with integrated bakers spices, licorice and semi-sweet chocolate. The wine slinks across the palate in black fishnet stockings. Integrated, though still quite youthful. Flavors match aromas, though there was a substantial change in its character over the course of the night. From the get-go the flavors matched the aromas, with the fruit being delectable and supple. With air, though, the wine lost some of its sex appeal, unless one prefers their ladies au naturale, as a strong, yet enjoyable, game element emerged. Delicious. Solid A- to an A/A-.
Wine # 8: 1995 Domaine Andr Brunel- Chteauneuf-du-Pape
This is CDP that was made for the European market, but apparently reached our shores via the grey market. Alas, the wine was corked, though not so openly on the nose. The palate seemed stripped, however. NR.
Wine # 9: 1995 Domaine du Pegau- Chteauneuf-du-Pape
Classic, CDP nose of raspberry and red fruit, meat, spice and garrigue. Quite young and a bit closed down on the palate, but all the elements of a terrific wine are here. Flavors are similar to the aroma profile, though theres that burnt rubber element that will disappear when the wine integrates and matures further. Has just what I look for in a Chteauneuf. A- with Low A potential.
Wine # 10: 1995 Chteau Beaucastel- Chteauneuf-du-Pape
Fairly muted on the nose, though by the end of the evening there arose some beautifully pure fruit. I believe this was the vintage the estate changed things a bit and decided to keep the horses away from the vats. While shut down pretty firmly on the palate, theres plenty of heft and glycerine. The fruit is pretty buried, but theres a ripe and sappy quality to it. Great potential here. A.
Wine # 11: 1995 Font de Michelle, Cuve Etienne Gonnet,- Chteauneuf-du-Pape
Very cinnamon spicy aromas with raspberry and light chocolate. Tightly clenched on the palate with rather high acidity. Spice really dominates the wine at this time, though theres nice, elegant red fruit lurking underneath. While enjoyable, this is the most closed and atypical bottle of this wine that Ive had and its showing quite differently from one I had just a month or so ago. Its nowhere near as forward or integrated as every bottle Ive had in the past 1 years and the decadent raspberry fruit is not at the forefront. Still, a nice wine. Low A-.