Tasting Notes

WA96

The prodigious, saturated, opaque ruby/purple-colored 1999 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de Cinquantenaire (200 cases) is a candidate for the wine of the vintage. A 100% Grenache cuvee aged in older demi-muids, it is exceptionally full-bodied with a fabulous perfume of blackberry liqueur, cassis, minerals, spice, and flowers. The texture is sumptuous, and the wine accessible, although readers lucky enough to latch onto a few bottles should cellar it for 2-3 years, and watch the magic unfold over the following two decades. Awesome stuff!

V94

Full deep ruby. Roasted plum and blackcurrant, truffle and caramel aromas lifted by oak spice; slightly higher-pitched than the Mon Aïeul. Less voluptuous and more tightly wrapped today, but very well delineated and impressively structured. Today this is more tannic than the Mon Aïeul but every bit as long. And the new wood component manifests itself in the wine's brightness and structure, rather than in any obvious oak aromas or flavors.

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