TNs: Chateauneuf du Pape tête de cuvées

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Michael Malinoski
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TNs: Chateauneuf du Pape tête de cuvées

Post by Michael Malinoski »

It was a treat to connect with my friend Ed and his regular tasting group a little while back on a night when they were drinking Chateauneuf du Pape tête de cuvées at Troquet. As always with this group, all of the wines were poured blind into a line of glasses at the outset of the evening, and then tasted throughout the evening with dinner.

2005 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Cuvée Roussanne Vieilles Vignes. Apparently, nobody specified when the theme was agreed upon that the wines had to be red, and it was with great pleasure that we started with this white. To begin, the aromatics are just gorgeous here, with outgoing and expressive aromas of white flowers, lemon, hay, river rocks, apple and a bit of wool showing great class and distinction to go along with the effusive and inviting expansiveness. In the mouth, it demonstrates great concentration and cohesion, with thick-boned fruit extraction draping over the palate with rich honeyed flavors of pears, lemon, vanilla bean, crushed rocks, melon and tropical accents. It’s finely-textured, easy-flowing, generous and delicious.

1998 Domaine Pierre Usseglio & Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de mon Aïeul. This takes a little while to find its footing, starting out very dark and nutty on the nose, with aromas of caramel, mild funk, fur, charred earth and pan drippings, but eventually coming around to a classier mélange of suede leather and dark rich fruit aromas that when all is said and done are pretty darned nice. In the mouth, it’s plush and lushly-textured, with warm gooey flavors of kirsch, baked cherries, black raspberries, gravel and toasted spices still supported by fine-honed tannins. There’s nice acidic lift late, and also a spicy, tingly finish that draws you back for another sip. In the end, this is very nice.

1999 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes. I am not a huge fan of the aromatic profile here, with the wine showing a strong streak of industrial rubber band aromas to go along with pink peppercorns, fudgy dark earth and powerful, bold black cherry and black raspberry fruit. On the palate, it shows off its muscular, full-bodied personality even more—with a decidedly powerful push of plushly-concentrated black cherry fruit and bitter smoke flavor. I find it just a bit obvious, I guess, with a ton of stuffing but too much strident aggressiveness just now for my tastes.

2005 Domaine de la Janasse Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes. This vintage actually drinks much more like the older of the two. This one delivers rather appealing aromas of dusty dirt road, dried wild herbs, pressed flowers, baked cherries, raspberries, and some dark smoldering tar and earth notes running below. In the mouth, it is beautifully smooth and creamy-textured, with effortless flavors of cherry, kirsch, raspberry and occasional glimpses of fresh mint. It’s perfectly ripe for my tastes, has a great acidic tang, and seems to exude a gentle flowery sweetness of tone that shows excellent staying power and outstanding balance. It’s really pleasant to drink right now.

2007 Bosquet des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape Chante Le Merle Vieilles Vignes. This wine is very outgoing on the nose, with densely-concentrated but engaging aromas of spiced raspberries, cherries, lavender, menthol, olives and pot pourri that combine quite nicely. In the mouth, it is a significant wine of serious heft and concentration, needing more time to tame the tannins and to shed some of the alcoholic notes that are poking out a bit right now. Still, it is generously-fruited and plushly-textured through the middle, providing rich and chewy blackberry, raisin and roast coffee flavors that will surely hold and improve over the next decade.

2007 Henri Bonneau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve des Célestins. I just adore the beautiful bouquet this wine puts forth, which totally stands apart from everything else on the table, taking it up several notches in distinction, class and complexity. Gorgeous aromas of buffed saddle leather, rose petals, cocoa powder, sweet tobacco, plump red and purple berries and all kinds of Burgundian-styled nuances float effortlessly up and out of the glass for one to enjoy. It then kind of throws you a curveball with a palate presence that is much bigger, thicker and pastier than the nose would suggest. It leads off with a big hit of creamy black and red berry fruit, with accents of mace, allspice, Christmas ribbon candy and earthier bits of mushroom flavors coming in from all directions. It’s a big, dense mouthful of flavor that really stays on the palate for a long time and leaves a rather lasting impression. For me, it’s fantastic and the clear wine of the night.

2012 Clos du Mont-Olivet Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Cuvée du Papet. This wine is just too young to even contemplate, really. It’s by far the least appealing wine on the table to smell, assaulting the nostrils with raw grapey fruit aromas to go along with black electrical tape, black olive brine, charred herb and dried blood aromas that don’t do much for me. In the mouth, it’s very much the same. It’s all primary purple grape flavors to go with some more interesting nuances of peppercorn and capicola deli ham, but all wrapped in a wreath of tannins, sharp acid and raw alcohol. I don’t quite know what to make of it for the long-haul, but for now it really shouldn’t be touched.

1999 Domaine de Marcoux Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes. There’s a fine, old-fashioned nose to this wine, showing pleasant aromas of leather, garrigue, dried lavender, baked cherry and interesting green leafy streaks that subtly add to the overall complexity. In the mouth, it’s open-knit, gently-textured, easy-flowing and nicely-balanced. It’s medium-weighted, with classic flavors of dark cherries, dusty herbs and dry earth. I think at times it gets a bit overshadowed in this company, but it’s at a nice stage of maturity right now, and drinking quite well.

This was a really fun tasting, with some rather excellent wines. The group’s wine of the night was the ’07 Henri Bonneau, with 4 of 7 first place votes, 2 second place votes and a third place. Next was the Beaucastel blanc, with 1 first place vote, 1 second place vote and 3 third place votes (including mine). Third was the ’05 Janasse and fourth was the ’99 Marcoux VV. The only wine to receive no votes was the ’12 Mont-Olivet, but as my notes indicate, that wine is simply way too young.


-Michael
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JCNorthway
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Re: TNs: Chateauneuf du Pape tête de cuvées

Post by JCNorthway »

Ah, Chateauneuf du Papes. One of my favorite fall/winter wines. Quite a nice selection in your tasting.
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