Six roasted grouses and six CdP 2003 at the TGJP

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pierre-alain benoit
Hello
Last friday, we made a nice dinner with Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2003 (Charvin, Ferrand, Marcoux, Mont-Olivet, Pierre Usseglio & Vieux Donjon) and 4 clairins. See our new website available on every devices (desktop, tablet or smartphone) :
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Best regards
pierre-alain benoit
 
Had the 2003 Vieux Donjon in the past and found it candied and ripe to the extreme, really very atypical for that wine. Maybe it developed some grip with time, but I cannot say I have seen this too many times by adding 8-10 years of bottle of age.

Had the 2003 P. Usseglio in the past at the Domaine where he definitely showed well (I encouraged my American colleague to make a big deal out of having travelled all the way to France to taste this, otherwise I guess we would have had the Usseglio Tradition)...
 
My Vieux Donjon 03s also tasted candied and almost as if the grapes had been slow roasted. I remember on the Parker bored Parker swearing it was a texbook, traditional VD. Since numbers of people were describing the wine I tasted, I figured maybe one of the batches that came into the US had been cooked. VD was never the same after 01, but 03 may have been the year.

I find the 03 Usseglio tradition (I assume the one tasted here) to be an acceptable wine, given the vintage, but nothing more.
 
I meant the P. Usseglio Mon Aieul, which although sometimes riper than the Tradition, in this case had considerably more grip and backbone. But did not resample...

Definitely agree, the 2003 P. Usseglio Tradition (which we tasted as well) was nothing special...
 
In 2005, the 2003 vintage in cdp was undrinkable. Sugar + alcohol = very heavy

Since 2015, 2003 seems to be a little bit more approchable.
We try to cook some big recipes (hare or grouses) and drink the cdp a little bit cold (16°C).

About Vieux Donjon, I don't remenber if 2003 was the first Cambie vintage (or 2005 ?).
 
Those 2001 and even 2000 (and also 1998 I think) Vieux Donjon were so good, that is why I was struck by how different the 2003 was. Place in Minneapolis (Haskells) had them at 1/2 price, so I went long on them (two cases as I recall). I know people say these should be cellared long term, but these were wines that drink brilliantly (in their own style) at a young age...
 
You can not compare a 1998-2000-2001 with a 2003. it's a non-sense.
In 2003, I was in Gigondas around may 25-26. In afternoon, temperature growed to 38-40°C.
When we bought cdp 2003 in 2005, nobody knew if they will be approchable in on or two decades.
 
That's true, completely different vintage. I wish I had some bottles to check back in on. I see now the 2003 Latour (another ripe wine) that I flipped (well, to pay for my daughter's education) were recently rated at the top of a tasting...
 
04 was the first vintage I could taste Cambie's effect on VD. I was astonished to learn that he started there in 00 or 01.

While a handful of 03s have surprised me, Charvin's being a prime example, in how well they are doing, for the most part, I did not expect them to be long-lived and I still do not. None in my cellar have cracked up and died. But they taste very much like overripe wines with 13 years on them. I don't expect them to show well at 20 years old--though I've been wrong before.
 
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