Jonathan Loesberg
Jonathan Loesberg
Cole and Mary were kind enough to arrange a dinner before Gail and I went to France, and even more kind enough to put their second bottle of a 1929 Chateauneuf du Pape on the agenda. This led to CdPs with age from all over. Attendees were Craig and Beth, John and Kate, and Bob, as well as, of course, Gail and me and our hosts. I have been assigned to report on CdPs. Other wines are on other people.
The first flight was a 99 Bonneau Celestins and a 95 Les Caillouxs, les Centenaires. I have long wanted to taste a Bonneau (it seems to be obligatory for CdP geeks)and, although the 99 was still young, it was as advertised. I'm not sure if that's a good thing. The wine was rich and dense with flavors of beef and beef blood. With time the nose opened up as well. I think most of the people around the table liked it a lot. Certainly Gail did. I found it overwrought. I understand its fame, but I guess I will now think of it as fameux rather than renommé.
The les Centenaires was my red wine of the night. On first opening, it had a musty nose, though the wine was beautiful once you swallowed some. With a little air, the mustiness blew off and this wine started to sing, with CdP richness and a certain delicacy at the same time. What happened to les Cailloux? Their wines through the mid 90s were great. Since 98, they have been attractive in a floozyish way on first release, and then keel over dead after 10 or 12 years. The only Centenaires I have has been the 98. A very nice wine but not like the 95. And the regular cuvees since 98 haven't held a candle to the wines this domaine produced from the late 80s to the mid 90s.
Then followed a 78 Clos Mt. Olivet that was devastatingly corked. I had a rerelease of this wine in the mid 90s (probably kept in foudres for years and years)and it was delightful. This was an original release and I was eager to try it. Alas. Some people said you could get the fruit beneath the corking. More power to them.
The last flight was a 94 Beaucastel, a 90 la Nerthe, cuvee des cadettes and the 29 les Patrices. I'll start with the cadettes because I expect this may be again a minority report. If you have a taste for this kind of thing, this was a nice version of this kind of thing. It was dense and rich and probably would benefit from a few more years. And it didn't have the oak notes I have gotten from recent la Nerthes (maybe it absorbed the oak, maybe the wine making was different then). But it was still distinctly modern.
I brought the 94 Beaucastel and I always like the wine I bring and this was no different. This wine has been reliably pleasurable for years and this bottle was no different. It is showing age and though it will make it to 20, I wouldn't push it to 30. I have a couple of bottles left and I'll drink them in a couple of years and enjoy them immensely. Only the 90 has given me more pleasure, but I haven't really started into the 98-01 Beaus.
And then there's that 29 that Cole acquired when buying a cellar. This wine made some people declare fraud. It indeed tastes younger than the Beaucastel and maybe the les Cailloux, though you can see the age in the color and get it on the nose. This wine won't make people who like power go all crazy but this second bottle, like the first Cole shared a year and a half ago, was complex and fascinating. I don't know that one should think CdPs will generally go to 83 years and counting. But this one could change my calculations.
Thanks again to everybody for a wonderful evening. And others can, of course, register disagreement and fill in on other strange old wines.
The first flight was a 99 Bonneau Celestins and a 95 Les Caillouxs, les Centenaires. I have long wanted to taste a Bonneau (it seems to be obligatory for CdP geeks)and, although the 99 was still young, it was as advertised. I'm not sure if that's a good thing. The wine was rich and dense with flavors of beef and beef blood. With time the nose opened up as well. I think most of the people around the table liked it a lot. Certainly Gail did. I found it overwrought. I understand its fame, but I guess I will now think of it as fameux rather than renommé.
The les Centenaires was my red wine of the night. On first opening, it had a musty nose, though the wine was beautiful once you swallowed some. With a little air, the mustiness blew off and this wine started to sing, with CdP richness and a certain delicacy at the same time. What happened to les Cailloux? Their wines through the mid 90s were great. Since 98, they have been attractive in a floozyish way on first release, and then keel over dead after 10 or 12 years. The only Centenaires I have has been the 98. A very nice wine but not like the 95. And the regular cuvees since 98 haven't held a candle to the wines this domaine produced from the late 80s to the mid 90s.
Then followed a 78 Clos Mt. Olivet that was devastatingly corked. I had a rerelease of this wine in the mid 90s (probably kept in foudres for years and years)and it was delightful. This was an original release and I was eager to try it. Alas. Some people said you could get the fruit beneath the corking. More power to them.
The last flight was a 94 Beaucastel, a 90 la Nerthe, cuvee des cadettes and the 29 les Patrices. I'll start with the cadettes because I expect this may be again a minority report. If you have a taste for this kind of thing, this was a nice version of this kind of thing. It was dense and rich and probably would benefit from a few more years. And it didn't have the oak notes I have gotten from recent la Nerthes (maybe it absorbed the oak, maybe the wine making was different then). But it was still distinctly modern.
I brought the 94 Beaucastel and I always like the wine I bring and this was no different. This wine has been reliably pleasurable for years and this bottle was no different. It is showing age and though it will make it to 20, I wouldn't push it to 30. I have a couple of bottles left and I'll drink them in a couple of years and enjoy them immensely. Only the 90 has given me more pleasure, but I haven't really started into the 98-01 Beaus.
And then there's that 29 that Cole acquired when buying a cellar. This wine made some people declare fraud. It indeed tastes younger than the Beaucastel and maybe the les Cailloux, though you can see the age in the color and get it on the nose. This wine won't make people who like power go all crazy but this second bottle, like the first Cole shared a year and a half ago, was complex and fascinating. I don't know that one should think CdPs will generally go to 83 years and counting. But this one could change my calculations.
Thanks again to everybody for a wonderful evening. And others can, of course, register disagreement and fill in on other strange old wines.