94-95 Points | International Wine Cellar , January/February 2003
($150-$175; tasted from foudre) Saturated medium ruby. High-toned, highly complex nose combines black raspberry, blueberry, currant, animal fur, chocolate and licorice, plus a whiff of lime skin. Superripe, dense and chewy, with a solidity that goes beyond the "regular" release. Deeply chocolatey, slightly port-like flavors. Huge tannins coat the front teeth on the extremely long finish. Even richer than the classique, but shows less evidence of alcoholic warmth. Paul Feraud told me their enologist thought there was still a slight residue of malic acidity. "We'd have to filter it if we bottled it now," he said, explaining why the wine was still in wood.
97 Points | Wine Spectator
100 Points | Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate
Member Notes
Textbook CdP
04/08/2007
by Mataro
Powerfully aromatic with tons of red fruit leaping out of the glass, backed by complicating notes of leather and earth. Palate was perfectly balanced, wonderful texture, lengthly finish and deep fruit. Obviously this will develop further, yet this is tough to resist now. Wish I had more.
Awesome!
03/03/2004
by O'Neil10784205
I visited the domaine in June of 2003. I hadn't intended to buy anything because I had already bought as much Cuvee Reservee as I could carry from their tasting room in the village. Laurence poured a sample of this wine and I had to have it. Tasting notes? Read the previous reviews, only more so! I can't think of many wines like this, that you can either drink immediately or 20 years from now.
Really great silky intensity !
12/30/2001
by praesent
I tasted this beauty out of cask in september 2001 with Laurence Feraud: it is packed with silky, fine but enormous intense fruit, great depth, very ripe tannins, very complex with an aftertaste of almost a minute. Compared with the 1998 it is at this stage of evolution more feminine, finer, but at the same high level of quality : It is going to be A GREAT WINE, too - just like its older brother 1998 !
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Why bother?
02/16/2005
by 6J
Full of stewed fruit, sweet, tannic and unbalanced. This wine is hugely expensive and essentially delivered no pleasure. 16 serious wine drinkers sitting around a table failed to finish their glasses out of a single bottle. Certainly the wine is a statement, but what is the value of the statement? Personally, this is a wine I will actively avoid.
About Chateauneuf du Pape
The Rhone's Chateauneuf du Pape has been one of the hottest categories of the new millennium in the American market, thanks in equal part to the nearly candied ripeness and full-bodied, chewy texture of these wines and to an unprecedented string of four consecutive very good to outstanding vintages between 1998 and 2001.
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