TN: 1994 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape

• 1994 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (1/30/2017)
  Nose is very strong horse blanket, fades a bit with air, but still dominates. A lot of funk and a bit of heat at first. Really needs time to open up. By the time the last glass was poured (4 hours), the bright red fruit came to the party. Super spicy, but lots of garrigues, too. Drank w duck breast- lovely, but I think the wine actually shone later by itself. Drink (with air) or hold.

Posted from CellarTracker

I really like this one. It’s along the lines of the 88, much leaner than the big vintages, but it has a lot going for it in aromatically.

Craig,
We should do some more Beaucastel soon.

So much beaucastel brett; at first especially. I liked it, but I think it’d turn off a lot of people. With air, you got more herb/garrigues, but the barnyard is always present.

And yeah, it was light; a lot less horsepower than some recent vintages. Much better for my palate. I guess I prefer “bad” vintages of Grenache, but maybe because I am really alcohol/heat intolerant.

Indeed!

I’ve always enjoyed this vintage of Beaucastel. I’ve found it to be less about power and more about grace & rustic charm

I love this Beaucastel vintage - it´s the last excellent vintage (IMHO better than 1995 which has a certain dry edge) before they “cleaned up” the style …
However I do think it is fully mature and will not really improve, but YES it needs a lot of air (it will also need air in a few years) … but on the other hand no real need to hurry and drink it up - certainly will keep another 8-10 years …

I agree that the 95, like a lot of 95s, is an austere wine. And I do love the 94. Atlhough I understand that the Beaucastel clean up occurred in 98, I have always liked the 99. After that, I’m with Gerhard.

I wrote:
it´s the last excellent vintage (IMHO better than 1995 which has a certain dry edge) before they “cleaned up” the style …
(I simply didn´t count the 1996/97 as excellent!)

So we are in agreement!

I haven’t had the 95 in quite a while but I’m planning to revisit 95 Beaucastel, VT and Pegau in a tasting in March.

Except for that pesky, theory breaking 99, which I do like. Since I don’t score, I don’t know whether I like it all the way up to excellent or only back at very good (is that the next rank?), but I do like it.

Jonathan,
I never said I don´t like the younger Beaucastel, I do like them, but less than before (but the ´99 is a good one, especially the Hommage), I just find them less interesting, cleaner and fruitier, “more simple” aromatically … a bit boring, but always good to drink …
However I don´t buy B. now (except the single bottle when the price is low) …
I know so many CdPs that are more appealing to me - for the same or less money …
and I still get enough Beaucastel to taste ´cause friends of mine own and serve it …

I had the '94 out of magnum last year and thought it was very good, but i liked the 88 even better.

I don’t mean to be persnickety, especially since I generally agree with Gerhard’s evaluation of post-clean-up Beaucastel: it is still a very well-made wine, just not of the same interest to me. But I wasn’t saying that the 99 was of a piece with those wines but that it was not. It is, for me, the last of the old Beaucastels, even though it should not be if clean-up indeed took place in 98. Whether it is an excellent last or a very good last is, as I said, a question I am not addressing.