Notes from a tasting of 1998 Chateauneuf du Pape
The wines were served in pairs with food accompaniment from the region – a couple of tarts and some panini.
1998 Patrick Lesec Les Galets Blonds – Lesec is a negotiant that finds small lots of wine to sell under his name. This one had a slightly dusty (at first) dark fruit nose, good mouth feel, soft tannins and opened up to show quite well indeed.
1998 Dom. Marcoux – sadly this wine had a ripe oxidative nose and we thought it had been abused at some point, although I have had good bottles from the same shipment, so….
Served with an onion, anchovy and Nicoise olive tart.
1998 Ch. De la Gardine Châteauneuf-du-Pape – aside from earning my everlasting disdain for the second worst bottle shape for a cellar (there is a Travaglini Gattinara with an even less useful shape) the wines have always been fairly dependable. At least good enough for me to overlook their tendency to commit hara kiri by throwing themselves out of any cellar bin but the bottom-most. This one showed a slightly sweet fruit nose, mellow flavours, good terminal acidity and it developed some nice garrigue notes, although it lacked the complexity of some of the other wines.
1998 Le Clos du Caillou Châteauneuf-du-Pape Domaine du Caillou – this was the regular cuvee, not the reserve. It had a very nice nose of the slightly funky type, with some tar and brambly cherry, and on palate, sweet fruit and very good length. I’ve seen reports on this as being near the end of its life, but this bottle was in perfect shape and was the favourite to this point.
Served with a fresh tomato tart on a base of garlic basil pesto (or rather pistou).
1998 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape – one of my favourites, this showed currant and anise in the nose and a long smooth finish with excellent body and colour.
1995 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape – served blind to test my personal preference for this vintage over the touted 1998s. Showing a bit brickier colour, and with a beautiful nose of currant/anise as the 98, but adding some spice to the mix and some mocha flavours on palate.
Served with Panini made with a base of mushroom duxelles with chopped chives and lemon juice, spicy sliced sopressata and provolone.
I served various blue cheeses with a 2008 Tantalus Vineyards Riesling to clear palates and the tasters took their leave.
After the crowd had left, I thought I’d open just one more bottle to confirm my impressions and tasted this:
1995 Ch. De Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape – garnet colour, spicy in the nose with cherry and leather elements, smooth and balanced finish. None of the Beaucastel funk in this one. Another lovely 1995.