Browse Tag

rhône

Pontificate

Laget-Royer “Domaine Pontifical” 2006 Châteauneuf-du-Pape (Rhône) – Lovely nose. Full and spicy. Structured. Under the enticement, however, there’s not a great deal of substance. (2/08)

You load Sixtine tons, whaddya get?

[cdp vine]Diffonty “Cuvée du Vatican” 2006 Châteauneuf-du-Pape (Rhône) – Tight, over-structured, tough, and short. (2/08)

Diffonty “Cuvée du Vatican” 2006 Châteauneuf-du-Pape “Réserve Sixtine” (Rhône) – Big and chocolate-infused. Too tannic. Biting chunks of structure. There’s some stuff underneath, I think, but it’s really far too early to tell for sure. Essentially, I think this is over-extracted. (2/08)

Just west of Venice

Mestre “Domaine de La Côte de l’Ange” 2006 Châteauneuf-du-Pape (Rhône) – Medium-fruity. Plum, bubblegum, and thyme. Soft and almost pretty, perhaps even verging on fluff. It’s fun, though. (2/08)

Mestre “Domaine de La Côte de l’Ange” 2006 Châteauneuf-du-Pape “Vieilles Vignes” (Rhône) – Fuller and more structured than the normale, but still balanced. Some sour peanuts on the finish. (2/08)

Chaussy & the pussycats

Chaussy “Mas de Boislauzon” 2006 Châteauneuf-du-Pape (Rhône) – Thick and forward. Chocolate, fruit, herbs in the background. Dense and structured, but reasonably balanced. Turns linear on the finish. (2/08)

Chaussy “Mas de Boislauzon” 2006 Châteauneuf-du-Pape “Quet” (Rhône) – Excellent balance in a warm, spicy, milk chocolate style, which not everyone will or should appreciate. There’s a bit of heat. This is very well done, but it would be difficult to call it CdP. (2/08)

Chaussy shells by the seashore

Chaussy “Mas de Boislauzon” 2006 Châteauneuf-du-Pape “Tintot Spécial Cuvée” (Rhône) – 100% old-vine mourvèdre. Earthy, big and lush. Mouthfilling. Dark and brooding, showing nuts and chocolate. Long and balanced. This has excellent aging potential.

In Nerthe

Château La Nerthe 1999 Châteauneuf-du-Pape (Rhône) – Dill and huge acidity. A gross perversion of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Yuck, yuck, yuck. (2/08)

Coulon your heels

Coulon “Boisrenard” 2004 Châteauneuf-du-Pape (Rhône) – Thick with herbs (dominated by lavender and mint). Dense and solid – perhaps overly concentrated – with meat and garrigue ascendant. Good, but it would be better if it took its foot off the accelerator. (2/08)

Duc of earl

[dentelles de montmirail]Gras “Santa Duc” 2005 Côtes-du-Rhône “Les Vieilles Vignes” (Rhône) – Monolithic and boring, this tastes of a squared-off block of soil concentrate sprayed with an anonymous dark fruit residue. It’s never bad, but it’s highly inactive, and ultimately quite dull. (3/08)

We’re gonna need a bigGerbaude

Alary 2005 Côtes-du-Rhône “La Gerbaude” (Rhône) – Smells like a Trappist ale, or perhaps a lambic…yes, there’s brett, which is here expressed more as bitterness than mammalian posterior. Also: meat, blood, black olive, and cassis. In addition to the gauzy scrape of brett, there’s a good deal of tannin. For all this, the wine’s solid and well-built, and should be ageable. The brett-averse should probably stay away, however. (3/08)

Mordorée or less

[bottle]Delorme “Domaine de la Mordorée” 2006 Côtes-du-Rhône “La Dame Rousse” (Rhône) – Very, very intense, squinching dark fruit, wet black leather, and woodsmoke into a tightly balled-up fist of pan-Rhône character. This is no easy-drinking Côtes-du-Rhône, and in fact would seem to be asking for a good rest in the cellar, but the raw and youthful materials are fairly impressive. (3/08)