About two weeks back, I was happy to be invited along to a dinner tasting of Chateau de Beaucastel and Domaine du Pegau with some fellow Boston-area wine lovers.
1998 Joh. Jos. Prum Riesling Kabinett Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Graacher Himmelreich . This was a nice start. The nose opens a bit slowly but comes on strong with pretty aromas of lemon peel, rich clover honey, citronella candle and crushed minerals. In the mouth, it has good weight and a very pleasing mouthfeel, without a preponderance of sweetness. It keeps things just perfectly balanced through the mid-palate before narrowing a bit to a mineral-tinged finish.
1995 M. Chapoutier Condrieu. This bottle sports a golden color and aromatics of pure candied caramel and notes of brassy oxidation. On the palate, it tastes totally oxidized to me. Hello, Mr. Dump-bucket.
1983 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. The ’83 offers up somewhat sharp aromatics of red currants, dried leather, toasted brown spices, faintly stewed fruit and a scintilla of moldy funk underneath. In the mouth, it is pretty light in body. The fruit is quite faded and in the background, and some grippy acidity is what seems most prominent. The faint flowery fruit comes forward with food and gives the wine a prettier, nuanced feel, but it is pretty clear this bottle is not the finest example of this vintage. Indeed, several tasters commented that they’ve had much better bottles in the recent past.
1988 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. This wine has a much meatier nose, with dark cherry and plum fruits, woodsy ferns and tree bark, and a drop of chocolate in there, too. On the palate, it is smooth, with vibrant acidity nicely balancing the spicy dark red fruit. It is not too heavy in the mouth, but shows good drive. The tingly finish is long and refreshing.
1989 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. This was my clear favorite in the first flight of three, even though a few folks were saying this was not the best bottle of this vintage they’ve had. The bouquet is so deep and rich, full of red currants, bridle leather, warm turned earth, mulling spices and chocolate brownie. The mouth is similar, with excellent density and depth of flavor. It has excellent texture and a fine, layered feel. There is just a hint of rounded tannins that come in toward the back of the palate and lead to a warm, spicy finish. This is just a delight to my palate!
2001 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. This wine opens with a wild brambly nose of warm mixed berries, dry stems, baked pie and faint rubber. It has a tight, seamless entry and fans out moderately in the mid-palate—showing flavors of chocolate, briery berries and spices. It has manageable tannins and good acidity, but it shows a bit too much heat, in my opinion. Others seemed more positive than me, though.
2004 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. I find this to be very pleasant all around. The nose shows rich red berries, some forest greens and soft fresh mint. It is round and fleshy in the mouth, with a very nice sense of approachability, yet solid potential. It shows fine balance and a long, lasting finish. I much prefer this right now to the 2005.
2005 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. I find this wine to be a bit rough around the edges in its youthfulness. The nose brings up images of vulcanized rubber, motor oil, dried stems, foresty greens, and higher-toned candied cherry. It has a velvety, voluptuous texture, but is also very tannic compared to the 2004, with a clearly longer aging arc. The fruit is spicy and a bit funky, but there is also a bit of warmth to contend with. The long drying finish coats the tongue. I’d sit on this one for quite a while.
1995 Domaine du Pegau Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reservee. Moving over to the Pegau bottles felt like a pretty big shift, beginning with this lovely 1995. For me, it has a pretty nose of dried perfumed flowers, bridle leather, horsehair, earth, and red berry fruit. It is gorgeous in the mouth, featuring a seamless texture, very fine-grained tannins and plenty of body. It shows layers of juicy fruit that is sweet but not too sweet. It seems to deliver an effortless intensity of flavor all the way from entry to the long, spice-tinged finish. A candidate for WOTN for me.
1998 Domaine du Pegau Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reservee. As I was falling behind the other tasters at this point, it was not surprising that I was left with just a small pour of this beauty. Too bad, as what I did taste was outstanding, and I heard nothing but positives coming from folks around me. For me, it sports a very alluring nose of soft incense, garrigue herbs, cracked black pepper and sweet cherry liqueur. In the mouth, it is warmly inviting, with unctuous texture and flavors, featuring black cherry fruit. The overall takeaway is a wine of great sexiness—I’d love to have another crack at this sometime in the near future!
1999 Domaine du Pegau Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reservee. The 1999 has a bouquet that soars up out of the glass with all kinds of red berries, cherry pie, fruitcake, leather, earth, forest elements and soft caramel. It is a touch jammy on the entry, but it begins to fan out in the mid-palate, where it takes on a more fleshy, well-balanced mouthfeel. There is a nice acidic twang that comes on, too. The red fruit profile is very nice, and soft minty tannins come in more noticeably on the solid finish.
2000 Domaine du Pegau Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reservee. The nose here is an intriguing blend of blue/black fruits and more savory notes, with sprinklings of perfumed flowers and dark incense. It is potently rich and solidly-built in the mouth, with a fine spritzy acidity. It is already a nicely-integrated package that flows effortlessly from entry to finish, showing good length and a solid, spicy intensity. This is great now and has a big future ahead of it, too. A really nice way to wrap up the red wines.
2001 Dr. Loosen Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Erdener Pralat AP #40. Served from 375 ml bottle. This wine sports a very exotic nose of botrytis, butterscotch, candied yellow tropical fruit juices, and wild honey. It has good solid intensity on the palate, yet feels somewhat lacy-textured. It grows throughout the mid-palate, delivering lovely flavors throughout. It is not an over-done style, and will perhaps gain more depth and unctuousness with some additional time in bottle.
Overall, I was quite impressed with the Pegau offerings, with both the ’95 and ’98 excellent candidates for wine of the night, along with the ’89 Beaucastel. The wines I’d most like to buy and cellar to try again in 5 years would probably be the 2000 Pegau and the 2004 Beaucastel.
Just a quick addendum:
I had the great pleasure to attend a similar tasting almost exactly a year earlier. I never got a chance to type up my notes from that event, but I thought it might be interesting to post here now, to sort of create a 12-month summary of my Pegau/Beaucastel vertical tasting notes.
Again, these are from last January (2007):
1990 Domaine du Pegau Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reservee. Here we have a nose of saffron, dried orange peel, dark cherries and dark berries. In the mouth, it shows good density, intensity and drive, and quite good length. It is spicy and chocolatey, with a fair amount of teeth-staining tannins hanging around. Probably better in a few years, though.
2001 Domaine du Pegau Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reservee. There is a simply beautiful bouquet to this wine, featuring complex aromatics of leather, horse, strong red currant and dark cherry. In the mouth, it has a lovely creamy layered texture, with lots of minerality and dark raspberry fruit. It displays fine juiciness and superb balance. This should just get better and better with age.
1985 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape.The nose seems somewhat corpulent, with deep cherries, minerals, and faint leather that grows with time in the glass. In the mouth, it has resolved tannins and a sense of savory/sweet yin/yang going on. It is mature and contemplative, almost mellow. Yet, there is solid stuffing there to keep it going for a while.
1990 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. This is my second experience with this wine in the past few months, it is simply one of the finest CdP’s I’ve ever had. This bottle has just a fantastic nose of leather boots drying by the fire, turned earth, rosemary and crushed raspberries. In the mouth, it is just so smooth, velvety, rich and luscious. It is full-bodied and generous, with coffee, red and darker berries and herbs. There are no hard edges and a very long, very juicy finish. This is just beautiful.
1994 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. Much darker-colored than either the 1985 or 1990. With a good amount of swirling, notes of licorice rope, faint tobacco, leather luggage and creosote come forward. It is tangy in the mouth, but not especially complex, at least not at first. It does grow a bit with time in the glass. It is finely-textured, more medium-bodied and finishes nice and easy.
1998 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. This is tight at first and takes a while to unfold its legs. It sports dark wild berries on the nose, along with lavender, flowers and newer hard leather. It is somewhat savory in the mouth, and I find there to be some unwelcome warmth popping through. This needs time to round out.
1999 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. The nose here is very flowery, and also shows notes of persimmon and lifted crushed berries. Just lovely. On the palate, it is quite fresh and vibrant, but also with obvious (but fine) tannins. The balance is impressive through the mid-palate, but the finish is quite tannic and the wine seems to clamp down a bit. Still, a fine showing.
2000 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. The has a penetrating bouquet of incense, black cherry, spice, moss and smoke. Initially, it comes across as a heavier-styled Pinot in its texture and weight, and drunk blind I would probably guess (as I have in the past) richer-styled Burgundy. With air time, however, it does grow a bit heavier and darker, so I am not entirely sure where this is heading, but it is quite pleasant right now.
2001 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. This was the only wine that overlapped across the two tastings, and it was one of my least favorites each time (though far from being a poor wine). This bottle a year ago featured a very dark nose of weedy herbs, pine forest notes and blackberries. It is dark and brambly in the mouth, with a core of sweet blackberry fruit. However, it sports abundant tannins and feels a bit narrow on this night. Maybe see where this is at in 5 years’ time?
2003 Chateau de Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape. This has a rich and warm nose of ripe plums and garrigue notes. It features roasted fruits in the mouth, heavy body, but not a lot of nuance. It is not showing much right now, really. Try again in 5 years.
-Michael