WTN: Cristia and Vatican CDPs

Had a nice dinner last night of lamb chops, quinoa and mixed vegetables with three CDPs. The first two were blind to me. I didn't take notes, but the first was nice example of CDP, with a nice acidity to the medium bodied palate with earthy cherries and a hint of tar. Didn't take a guess on this one, for some reason. It was the 2004 Domaine de Cristia, I learned later. The second dialed it up a notch in terms of complexity and concentration, and I thought this was a premium label. I guessed a Domaine de Cristia Renaissance 2006, and was close: it was the 2004 Renaissance. It was the wine of the night, and drinking well now but will improve over the next 10 years. Definitely a little lower in acid than the first wine, and reflected older vines I thought. It was really interesting to taste these two Cristia 2004 CDPs.

My wine was the last wine, and after 2 hours of decanting, it was still really tight, with a wall of tannins and acid blocking the fruit. After about 5 hours, it did mellow out a little bit, but was still pretty closed. Kipper nailed this one, the 2005 Vatican Reserve Sixtine - very impressive! He said he had this a year or two ago, and it hasn't moved much at all yet. There seemed to be more blackfuits than redfruits at the moment, and was still extremely young, but there seemed to be a wine of quality lurking beneath the tannins. I won't touch my remaining bottle for another 5 years at least.

The 2004 Cristia is drinking well now, and was a great QPR at the purchase price. It went very well with the lamb. Kipper bought a case of this, and only has a few left, as it was his 'house' CNP over the last few years. The other two were still quite young, but were nice relatively traditional CDPs.

Cristia 2004 Cndp. Last bottle of 2 cases of this wine. The trick with this wine is to slow O the bottle for 24-40 hrs, otherwise there is a compost funk on the nose, and little on the palate. I was going to write this wine off about a year ago when the bottle were not performing. I had opened one for a party and forgot it in the mix, when I tried it with supper a day later it was very good. Nothing special on the nose. Palate of dried red fruit with fruit spice, some tannin and good acidity. Decent finish with no heat. Great qpr 30.00cdn in 2006.

Cristia Renaissance 2004. I chose these wines to compare the producers 2004s, and to see if John could guess this one as we had it a couple of months earlier at a dinner party. John guessed 2006. Good guess. Clearly a jump up in quality overall. Nose of black liquorice and smoke. Layered palate of black liquorice, intense blackfruit and spiced pudding. Great lengthy finish. Tannic structure and acid lingering still in the background, so no rush for this wine.

Cuvee du Vatican Reserve Sixtine 2005. Not very enjoyable drinking yet, as this was a wall of tannin and acid. Will the tannin recede for the fruit to emerge? We will find out in another 10 years as that will be the next time I try a 2005.