WTN: 2007 Vieux Telegraphe Le Crau

[Jenise]

Vieux Telegraphe is one of our favorite CdPs for sentimental reasons too silly to bore anyone with and it has been a long long time since we tasted one very young, so we opened one of our 07's with dinner last night. I decanted it about an hour beforehand. What a shock: the color has already turned the garnet red of a more mature wine, orange at the rim, and sediment is already separating out (I didn't even allow for the possibility of sediment when I decanted it, I just wanted oxygenation). The nose and palate follow suit: it's all secondary development with grand aromas of brown sugar, orange peel and leather notes on a warm red fruit compote with pleasurable acidity and scant tannins. And as such it's absolutely delightful to drink; it's just that it's disturbing to see one's three year old bumping and grinding like an adult. Even though it's got the right moves, you know that it doesn't really know what it's doing.

I've got six of them coming, Jenise, after bidding on them at a charity auction in Charlotte. It did seem to be the favorite of the 2007 Rhone tasting (with Beaucastel perhaps taking second and I also liked the Roger Sabon Cuvee Prestige.) I don't have a lot of experience with Rhone wines but may enjoy the fact that these can be enjoyed earlier in their development.

(Your analogy about the bump and grind is amusing.)

Interesting. Thanks for the notes. I have only tasted a few 07 CdPs and they showed ultra ripe. Probably a vintage I will skip for the most part. Dr/VP Dietz brought one to my office a few weeks back and while it was tasty, there is now I way I would have guessed anything but Santa Barbara County from aromas to mouthfeel to taste.

The Clos Du Papes was almost undrinkable for me.

Jason

[Jenise]

Interesting. Thanks for the notes. I have only tasted a few 07 CdPs and they showed ultra ripe. Probably a vintage I will skip for the most part. Dr/VP Dietz brought one to my office a few weeks back and while it was tasty, there is now I way I would have guessed anything but Santa Barbara County from aromas to mouthfeel to taste.

The Clos Du Papes was almost undrinkable for me.

Jason

I haven't tasted all that many either, but I've had mixed reactions to what I did taste. Liked a few, but have found a few others bizarre, like the hot, acid-deprived Pierre Usseglio. This was far better than that, but the rub is that it won't live long enough to acquire the kind of depth I hope for from VT. A 2000 we had a few months ago showed more youthful characteristics than this. And for, what, $55? Ouch.

[David M. Bueker]

That bottle really sounds compromised to me. While I am not a fan of 2007 CNdP, I have not seen any that were going orange at the rim, dropping lots of sediment, etc.

[Jenise]

That bottle really sounds compromised to me. While I am not a fan of 2007 CNdP, I have not seen any that were going orange at the rim, dropping lots of sediment, etc.

I hear you, and yet it was otherwise without flaw. No stewed flavors, no oxidation. What could cause that kind of rapid development?

[David M. Bueker]

Heat - recent heat to be more precise. If the bottle were to have aged longer the other cooked characteristics might have appeared.

[Jenise]

Heat - recent heat to be more precise. If the bottle were to have aged longer the other cooked characteristics might have appeared.

Hmmm...I bought them locally; they've been in my cellar for about six months. I'm thinking you meant more recent than that?

[David M. Bueker]

Not necessarily, no. Remember that I intentionally heat damaged some bottles for two years with little or no obvious effects.

[Jenise]

And I'm suddenly reminded of friends who divided their time between homes in Southern California and Houston. I remember being in L.A. with them and being able to pick out Houston-originated bottles fairly reliably.

I wonder if there might have been a porosity problem with this particular cork, allowing enough oxygen to age it prematurely, but not enough to show overt oxidation because you opened it so early. Maybe you'll have to open a second!

Jenise, you might want to change to Telegraphe at least in text so it shows up in searches (I assume you spelled for your sentimental reasons, which silly or not are usually the best reasons to like a wine!).
I'm with Jason in the "cautious with 07 due to some overripeness" camp

Not necessarily, no. Remember that I intentionally heat damaged some bottles for two years with little or no obvious effects.

Just a quibble, David: to call them "heat damaged" implies a certain foregone conclusion about the effects of the higher temperature. Perhaps a more accurate term would be "heat affected"?

Mark Lipton

What Dale said - maybe correct the spelling in the header (and tell us about your dalliance with the Wichita lineman....)

I'd be pretty choked about seeing this too (it might even stick in my 'crau'), given the longevity of Telegraphe in general. David is right, heat damage can be more subtle than stained labels and corks pushing out of the bottles and it can have consequences for the long term that you might not have found out about for years had you not popped a young one.

Too bad, and really hard to get anyone to take wine back for this sort of damage. The colour in particular is an alarm bell.

[David M. Bueker]

Mark,

Perhaps better would be to say that I "heat soaked" the bottles. The effects were not nearly as pronounced as one might expect.

As an aside, I have goten a hold of one of my next batch of heat experiment wines. I hope to have the second (just doing 2 this time, maybe 3) shortly.

[Jenise]

I wonder if there might have been a porosity problem with this particular cork, allowing enough oxygen to age it prematurely, but not enough to show overt oxidation because you opened it so early. Maybe you'll have to open a second!

Good point; it's happened in the past. Okay, I'll open another this weekend.

Good point; it's happened in the past. Okay, I'll open another this weekend.

I can nominate which day you should do that.......

[Jenise]

Good point; it's happened in the past. Okay, I'll open another this weekend.

I can nominate which day you should do that.......

Uh...Saturday? You're on!

Interesting. Thanks for the notes. I have only tasted a few 07 CdPs and they showed ultra ripe. Probably a vintage I will skip for the most part....

Jason, I couldn't agree more.

Jenise, very strange about your bottle. I would say open another and see if it's the same. Every 07 CdP ive had has been bright in colour and vibrant and ripe and young in every way....the complete opposite to your bottle.

Good point; it's happened in the past. Okay, I'll open another this weekend.

I can nominate which day you should do that.......

Uh...Saturday? You're on!

Saturday's a fruit day, so it's guaranteed to taste good.

[James Roscoe]

What is going on Saturday and is anyone invited?

[Jenise]

What is going on Saturday and is anyone invited?

Bocce match. Bring wine and something to nibble on.

[James Roscoe]

I used to love Bocce. Where? What time? I could bring some nice cheese. Would that work? (I suppose that eppoises on the carry-on wouldn't really work! )

[Jenise]

I used to love Bocce. Where? What time? I could bring some nice cheese. Would that work? (I suppose that eppoises on the carry-on wouldn't really work! )

Oh yes it would. Just bring it in that triple walled steel case all you spy-wannabe's in D.C. carry.