Noland Brothers taste Chateauneuf du Pape November 26, 2010
Wine A
Dark ruby with some orange on the edge. Earthy nose with some plum and black pepper. Bright acidity with blackberries on the midpalate. A long acidic fruit finish with a tannic afterglow displaying layers of flavor. Nicely balanced wine. James: Pepper and cloves and minerals. Mostly rocks with fresh broken twigs. Raspberry fruit, mostly black, but red on the finish. Long finish with flavors going on and on. Bob: A medium dark wine with a Christmas nose of pepper, spice, with layers of dark fruit underneath and earthy mineral overtones. Great midpalate with layers on the long finish.
Wine B
Dark ruby. Somewhat shy nose of dark fruit with a touch of blackberries, cloves and anise. Good front and midpalate A bit closed on the finish but opened up with time. A medium finish of tannic bitterness and green olive. James: Dark fruit with a smell of licorice. Bitter finish. Bob: Medium dark with anise on the nose , shy fruit. Good fruit on the midpalate with a medium finish with some bitterness on the end like a green olive.
Wine C
Deep ruby darkest of all the wines. Nose of dark fruit, black raspberry and cassis. More notes of menthol and sage. Young wine. Nice fruity midpalate with juicy acidity. Big wine with grippy tannins. Medium long finish of tannic fruit. James: Nice fruit but tannins are grainy. Needs time to integrate tannins. Bob: Dark ruby. Menthol on a dusty nose. The midpalate shows grainy tannins with sweet medium fruits like blueberry and raspberry. Tannins shut down the finish.
With food. Matched with smoked gouda and epoisse.
Wine A was a nice match with the smoked gouda giving it some light fruit. It really loves epoisse which gives the wine a nice sweet fruit wave.
Wine B. Gouda improves the finish a bit. Epoisse and B really match and dance up front, also improves the midpalate. Subdues the tannic bite on the finish a bit.
Wine C. Nice with gouda but finish was shortened and clamped down. Not bad in the midpalate with epoisse but cuts off the finish.
Wines revealed.
Wine A. (voted #1 sipper and best with food) Vieux Telegraphe 2004 “Le Crau” 14.5% abv Bob’s wine.
Wine B. (voted #3 sipper and #2 with food) Cuvee du Vatican 2001 15% abv My wine
Wine C. (Voted #2 sipper and #3 with food) Domaine Paul Autard 2007 14.5% abv James’ wine. This wine was a bit young and evolved a lot with during the tasting.
. I was a bit disappointed in my 2001 because I thought it would be at peak but I think it was a bit past peak. The finish just faded too quickly. Of course, maybe just never had it to begin with. Not sure.
it would seem the next best thing would be a CdP 2000 tasting!! As far as I know, 1991 was not exactly a stellar year in CdP; 2000 was. As you know, we always need a good tasting to fill in those hours between...well, wine tasting. 