Côtes du Rhône Villages Rasteau 2001 – Domaine Gourt de Mautens, Jérôme Bressy – Alc.14% - (>€30 for current vintage). Varietal composition of the red vines planted is “70% Grenache, 30% vieux Carignan, mourvèdre, Syrah, counoise, muscardin et vaccarèse; les vignes sont âgées de 45 à 90 ans pour les 2/3 d’entre elles et de 5 à 30 ans pour le reste”.
When Jérôme Bressy burst onto the scene in the second half of the 90s, the power and richness his red caused a stir and gave rise to a lot of hype. At the time I thought them impressive but too spoofy and brash to appeal to me in their youth but bought some bottles of vintages from 1998 to 2001 in the hope that moderate ageing would turn them into something civilised and harmonious. I haven’t yet tried the 2000 but found the 1998 and 1999 at c.10 years rich and complex wines but with a tendency to cloy after a glass or two. I note that leading French guides still praise this estate to the skies though recognising that Bressy has refined his style since the early 00s; if true, a good thing IMHO.
This was my first bottle of the 2001. The cork was moist right to the top and the bottle was beginning to leak though the level was still quite good.
C: Not quite so deep as my memory of the 98 and 99 with little signs of bricking at the rim.
N: Very subdued with the most noticeable odour being of cheesy eggs which immediately made me think reduction (but from a leaky bottle??).
P: Big, full bodied, quite dark in flavour showing sweet dark rose and old book notes with little primary fruit, fair acidity and firm but quite fine tannins supporting the finish. This was less spectacular in richness and, by the same token, less cloying than the 98 and 99 but showed more signs of drying out and age (9 years old) than I remember with them; 15/20+ (averaging interesting palate and poor nose).
So I remain underwhelmed by Gourt de Mautens, particularly considering its price point, and prefer, for example, the much more harmonious but much less hyped and pricey Haut-Coustias and Prestige Cairanne of similar age from Oratoire Saint-Martin.