WTN: 1998 Chateauneuf du Pape (8 of 'em)

[David M. Bueker]

Not so much notes as impressions, as I did not take formal notes. All of these wines were served blind by Scott, though I pegged Chateauneuf quickly, but missed the vintage when I guessed 2001 due to how youthful many of these wines seemed to be.

1998 Chateau Fortia was lean and eviscerated. Didn't seem like good vintage CNdP at all.

1998 Chateau Maucoil - Privilege was the only wine that betrayed any sense of serious over ripeness with a pruney edge to its otherwise quite typical and delicious red fruit and herb elements.

1998 Domaine du Galet des Papes Vieilles Vignes began a run of outstanding wines right through the end of the 8 wine tasting. Very rich but detailed wine. Classically CNdP which is why I was thinking 2001.

1998 Cabrieres Cuvee Prestige was actually my favorite of the night, as I found a little more herb and a little more meat in the profile. Delicious, and very much in the style of what I want from Chateauneuf. Ready to go.

1998 Andre Brunel Les Cailloux is a wine that gets beaten up frequently for being over the hill or somehow damaged, but this bottle was singing! It was one of the top picks of the night for the group, and showed vibrant fruit, tons of loamy earth and great balance.

1998 Vieux Telegraphe was its closed, surly self again. This and Beaucastel (see the next wine) need so much more age to be at their best. I could feel the palate weight, but it was like a coiled fist. Great potential, and I'm glad I had not lost my nerve and experimented on one of my bottles.

1998 Chateau Beaucastel was also dark and brooding, but did allow a little bit of a peek into its soul. Of course being more expressive than the Telegraphe isn't saying much. The balance is perfect, and the weight and structure show potential for a long life, but details? None here.

1998 Vieux Donjon was back to a more expressive wine, and this was very, very drinkable. If it wasn't so hot today I would grab a bottle from my cellar and grill up a leg of lamb.

We also had a 1998 Schloss Rheinhartshausen Erbacher Marcobrunn Riesling Spatlese that was thin and tasted like it had been dosed with under ripe Scheurebe. Too bad.

A 1999 Paul Autard Chateauneuf du Pape (forgot the cuvee name) was much more directly fruity than the 1998s, but still so delicious.

Fantastic tasting Scott!

My 98 Beaucastel is tucked safely away, but I figured on drinking my VT before too long. Your note gives me pause. How long would you figure on that wine?

[David M. Bueker]

at least another 5 years if provenance is good.

Really fun lineup and evening - even though I did embarrass myself with my blind tasting skills, pegging a number of the wines as older Burgs, guessing the Galet to just be a really bretty/off Pinot with all the leather and animal notes and then guessing the last two CdPs to be Cali Pinots given the masses of dark/red fruit and lack of anything else, particularly in the Beaucastel. Maybe I should actually drink some red wine every now and then?

The 98 'Les Cailloux' was my favourite of the night. Really beautiful wine with amazing finesse and elegance, perfumed aromatics with truffles, red fruits, earth and cardamom - just delicious. Loved the Cabrieres as well; really pretty aromatics with a nice violet-like element among the fruit/earth/smoked meat flavours, a bit lighter than what I expect from CdPs (was quite surprised when this was revealed to be a Chateauneuf in particular) but very elegant and well balanced with good acidity.

I struggled quite a bit with the Beaucastel and the Vieux Donjon - found both very tightly coiled with very dense, ripe red and black fruit and incredibly youthful for 11 year old wines. That Spatlese at the end was rather disappointing - found a very strong gooseberry element in there (I think David was calling it cat's pee), not much complexity and none of that Rheingau power.

As an aside Scott also served blind a 2006 Chester Gap Viognier from Virginia to start the evening. Really nice wine, although not something I'd have ever guessed as Viognier, showing a strong citrus and mineral flavour profile without the really big floral/tropical Viognier aromatics. That said, very well balanced and elegant and something I'd happily drink again. Great tasting Scott, thanks again!

Thanks for the write up. Sounds like a nice tasting. Glad to hear the Cabrières is drinking well.

Jason

I last had the 98 Beaucastel last year at Beaucastel (at tastings there, they like to give tastes of 10 and 20 year old Beaus to show how they age). That bottle had opened up. Though it was clearly not at its peak, it was more ready than yours sounded like.

My Les Caillouxs, while not over the hill, are much more evolved than an 11 year old CdP should be. They taste nice now, but they will never be the wine that Les Cailloux was in the late 80s through mid 90s. Or again, bottle variation.

It's interesting how 10 or 11 years later, there is so much bottle variation on these wines.

[David M. Bueker]

Hi Jonathan,

I do find the bottle variation troublesome. I really do wonder if it's attributable to shipment variation, or potentially not having all the wines bottled at once, leading to batch variation.

There seems to be much less variation even with '99 and '00, so perhaps the 1998 boom in Chateuneuf caused producers/shippers to step up their regimen.

As for Cailloux, I have not found the '99-'01 to have a lot of staying power, so perhaps in their case they stepped up produciton to meet demand. No clear answers there.