Drinking Windows for CdPape

I'm just barely discovering Rhone wines, and much of my experience has been with bargains that are meant to be drunk pretty soon. So...my question pertains to the "nicer" and middle-level bottles-like Chateauneuf du Pape!

Last week, I opened a Domain La Milliere Cuvee Unique Chateauneuf du Pape 2001. I really liked the kick of pepper on the finish, but it seemed pretty dominated by sweet black fruit. Is this typical of CdP, or should I wait another five years? I'm going to be eating Spanish food (including a rabbit dish), and I'm thinking the sweet fruit might go nicely with the food? Any overall rules of thumb for CdP?

Domain La Milliere Cuvee Unique Chateauneuf du Pape 2001. I really liked the kick of pepper on the finish, but it seemed pretty dominated by sweet black fruit. Is this typical of CdP, or should I wait another five years?

I'm no CdP expert, but yes, it gets plenty hot down there, so there is plenty of sweet fruit. Even if you wait 5 more years on this one.

Not to mention this was a Cuvee Unique so I'm guessing it had the full-on NBI new oak treatment, which will amplify that sweetness. And 2001 was a ripe year..

Things might look different with 10-15 years more aging. But I don't know this specific wine and others may have more details.

I'm just barely discovering Rhone wines, and much of my experience has been with bargains that are meant to be drunk pretty soon. So...my question pertains to the "nicer" and middle-level bottles-like Chateauneuf du Pape!

Last week, I opened a Domain La Milliere Cuvee Unique Chateauneuf du Pape 2001. I really liked the kick of pepper on the finish, but it seemed pretty dominated by sweet black fruit. Is this typical of CdP, or should I wait another five years? I'm going to be eating Spanish food (including a rabbit dish), and I'm thinking the sweet fruit might go nicely with the food? Any overall rules of thumb for CdP?

Brian,
My rule of thumb for CdP is to avoid from years 5-8, during which time many of them will shut down and typically drink them with 10+ years of age on them. It is important to distinguish the style, though. I am talking about the more traditional CdP from producers such as Vieux Telegraphe, Le Vieux Donjon, Clos des Papes, Beaucastel and Pegau. La Milliere in my limited experience is a more modern CdP that won't necessarily age as well.

What I get from an aged CdP is more of the meaty, gamy, peppery notes as well as the kirsch-like fruit. In my experience, they rarely develop complexity in the same way that Boredeaux or Burgundy does (or Syrah from the N. Rhone). In the Fall, when I return to drinking big red wines, I'll be drinking mostly '89, '90 and '94 CdPs. Lighter years such as '96 I consumed at about 8-10 years of age. Others are drinking '98-'00 CdP with pleasure so YMMV.

Mark Lipton

Not to mention this was a Cuvee Unique so I'm guessing it had the full-on NBI new oak treatment, which will amplify that sweetness. And 2001 was a ripe year..

Rahsaan, the La Milliere, like the Clos du Caillou CdRs we recently discussed, doesn't seem to me to show much in the way of new oak. Whether that's because of the treatment or its ability to integrate new oak, I couldn't say, but it doesn't whack you over the head with new oak as some of the NBI Burgs do.

Mark Lipton

Rahsaan, the La Milliere, like the Clos du Caillou CdRs we recently discussed, doesn't seem to me to show much in the way of new oak. Whether that's because of the treatment or its ability to integrate new oak, I couldn't say, but it doesn't whack you over the head with new oak as some of the NBI Burgs do.

Interesting.

I've been out of the CdP/NBI loop for so long (if you count the brief few months when I first moved to Berkeley where I purchased NBI Southern Rhone wines on a regular basis as being inside the loop).

But I can see how the NBI Burgundies would be more sensitive to the treatment.