TN: 2007 Domaine de la Solitude (Lançon Père et Fils) Châteauneuf-du-Pape

[Rick]

• 2007 Domaine de la Solitude (Lançon Père et Fils) Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (11/22/2009)
  nice bright color that darkened toward bottom of bottle. I found the last glass day 2 to be thje best. strong sweet dark cherries. Grenach fruit comes through right away the Mourvedre's rustic flavor makes itself known in a pleasant way. The tannins ae easy to deal with. Alcohol heat is felt a bit on the long sweet finish. (92 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

[JCNorthway]

Rick,

A couple of weeks ago, my wine tasting group blind tasted six 2007 CdPs that ranged from 90-96+ Parker points. What was most interesting about this tasting was that everyone seemed to enjoy the wines, but most people commented that they just did not seem like typical young CdP wines. I actually agreed with the group. The wines had a lot of concentrated fruit which seemed to dominate. In my experience, and the experience of other members, young CdPs are often much more subdued, closed, brooding, tannic, etc. That was not the case with these.

While I think that several of the wines we tasted will age well for 10 or so years, I'm not convinced that they will be as long-lived as RP's reviews seem to suggest.

FYI, the wines we tasted were (with RP rating):

Cristia (90)
Bosquet des Papes (91)
Mas de Boislauzon (94)
Clos du Mont Olivet Tradition (92)
Grand Veneur Les Origines (96)
Vieux Telegraphe (96+)

Jon

[Jay Winton]

I saw the 07 Solitude on the shelf at Calvert Woodley last week-can't remember the tariff but I'm heading over there tomorrow to buy some supplies for Thanksgiving so will check. Their CDR is also good. We drank an 01 "Les Origines" Saturday night with some grilled cow. It's quite nice and still developing. Worth buying if the price is right.

[Rick]

Jon
Have you seen the Mas de Boislauzon in Chicago? was this the regular bottle or single vineyard?


The 07s are so good to drink now I am just not sure they need to cellar for years....I tend to agree not sure they will last 15-20 yrs as RP suggests
rick

[JCNorthway]

Rick,

Binny's has (at least they did) the regular bottling - about $36 as I recall. Have not seen the single vineyard.

Jon

[Chasse-Spleen]

I had the Clos du Mont Olivet Tradition just recently - if that's the basic bottling, which I think it is. Didn't see it say 'tradition' anywhere. Anyway, I totally agree with the statement that the wine was drinking so well that it didn't seem like a young CNdP. It was so soft albiet with great concentration and a really luxurious mouthfeel. Not hugely complex, but just completely together and ready to go. Delicious, but this is traditional style CNdP?
-Chasse

[Blanquito]

I think overall the 2007 CDPs will eventually be very good-to-great wines. That said, this vintage reminds me of 2003 Bordeaux in that even the successful wines will go through an unusual evolution on their way to something balanced. Right now, all of the 2007 southern Rhones I've tried (and it's only been 5-6 domaines) have been so friggin' sweet, I find them borderline cloying.

For example, the Alary Brunote Cotes du Rhone 2007: powerful, extract wine with some acids and tannins to barely tame its off-dry palate impression. I suspect in 3-4 years, it will come into focus and be a really lovely $18 bottle of wine.

[Chasse-Spleen]

That's a good point, Patrick - the sweetness of it. And definitely low acid and not a lot of obvious tannin. Super smooth, also. Very easy to drink.