TN: 2003 Domaine Pierre Usseglio & Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de mon Aïeul

• 2003 Domaine Pierre Usseglio & Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de mon Aïeul - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (7/1/2017)
  Very ripe fruit results in a very roasted/jammy/raisiny/stewy drink to my taste. I get baked berries with leather, spice and a hint of funk. Think Parker praised Aussie wine, but better balanced. I would say atypical not just of CDP but also of Mon Aieul. Clearly well made but too over the top to give it a higher score. (91 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

So a high score would be like 110?

I drank up most of my bottles years ago, and liked them a lot. It was rich back then too, but not Banyuls-like.

Lately it has become a brown-fruited misfit as quite a few other 2003 CdP’s

2003 P. Usseglio Mon Aieul
04-27 2016 nB
Medium deep (or lighter) with completely mature, almost brown edge.
Possesses an almost nausauating smell of macerating plums, Grand Marnier and apple cores. An attractive counterbalacing scent of fresh cherries is not sufficient to save the cracking up and overblown aroma.
Taste very rich, yet with some acidity and some dry, bitter tannin.
Initially quite long, leaving a sticky sweetness on the tongue, but it soon fades and becomes progressively hollow.
Not truly unpleasant, but now tasting too much as a watered down Banyuls for me. Drink up in a hurry cause down is the only way to go for this short lived Mon Aieul.
87/

The following note from Neal Martin gives a good impression of how this slutty wine tasted five years ago:

“Tasted November 2011 at “Tim’s Kitchen” in Hong Kong. I will be honest, this is probably not the style of wine I would choose to drink, but I will not deny that it is beautifully crafted and those seeking opulence and hedonism need look no further. There are scents of kirsch, fig, glycerine and a touch of marmalade on the nose that contains fine definition and no excess alcohol. The palate is full-bodied and well balanced, imbued with a palpable “mellowness” after a few years in bottle with touches of treacle on the finish more spherical than rounded. Orgasmatronic.
93/”

Peter

I’ve had a couple vintages of Mon Aieul and found it most vile. Not even super-ripe vintages.

I had the same wine last year and loved it. I wonder how much of the difference in takes comes back to the perception of sweetness, which this wine clearly is. “Roasted,” “stewy” and “raisiny” are just alternative ways of describing the concentration of fruit sugars. I wonder if the negative connotation to those terms is the sweetness or something else.

• 2003 Domaine Pierre Usseglio & Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de mon Aïeul - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (5/13/2016)
  Holy bejeezus, this was good. I get nervous opening 2003s: will it be roasted, flabby, etc.? This was great. Cherry and raspberry, meatiness, provencal herbs, with a hint of molasses on the finish (residual sugar?). The texture was silky yet still firm; enough acid to make it lithe, yet there was enough flavors and weight to stretch out the volume and depth. Altogether a fabulous wine. (95 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

I’ve got a 2003 pegau inspiration lined up for a week on Saturday. Hopefully, not as brown/raisined!

Pegau rarely is, unless of course if its been damaged by (even brief) spells of heat, which unfortunately happens all the time.

But don’t blame the producer

Good luck with your precious magnum, and be good and write a few words here about it.
We practically never see notes on this extreme rarity…

Peter

Ha - Yes, it is similar to the Spinal Tap rating system.

Greg,

Is it as good as Foley Claret??? Hope that you are doing well.

Thanks Howard. Of course, nothing beats a Foley Claret, except perhaps those two bottles of '02 Truchot CDR I drank off a list recently…