2004 Pegau réservée

I had the 2004 Domaine du Pegau Cuvee Reservee on Saturday with grilled hanger steak. I know other vintages are more celebrated, but I find this to be my favorite vintage since the 1990. It has garrigue, pepper, a melange of spices and pure raspberry fruit that is all in perfect balance. It has been in this window for a few years and is holding steady. It may have softened a little and gained some complexity in the last year or two, but this wine has never been less than delicious. While I enjoy the riper years, I find the 2004 to be better balanced, more satisfying and more complete, as well as a perfect compliment to grilled meat. Damn good!

Agreed that it’s a fine bottle. Still a fan of the 2001 as well

I used to feel that way about the 1994 which, unfortunately, is long gone.

1994 was wonderful and I only ever had 3 bottles. Last one was a few years ago and so smooth and savory.

I loved the 94 and the 99, but this is a different level. I had a bunch of 500ML bottles of the 99 and blew them them with gusto. Smooth and savory is right, but the 2004 has more depth and presence.

1999 can be brilliant, but can also be the bfettiest Pegaus in my collection, which is saying quite a bit

Agreed. And, now that I think about it, I’m not sure there’s another '04 CdP I’ve enjoyed more. This is one of the few '04’s I prefer to the '05.

Agree. The comparison to 1994 isn´t in the wrong direction, although the 2004 is a bit more concentrated … (but the 1994 was in perfect maturity for several years).
Nothing bad in loving the slightly less ripe years …

Laurence used a new huge fudre in 2005, and she herself felt that there was a slightly dry edge to the wine (of this cask). It may be that this is noticable in a part of the 2005 … and in other parts not …
2005 still needs more time imho …

I love 04 Southern Rhones. I bought a lot of 05s which just seem too ripe now.

I’ll second an appreciation for the 94s, the 99s and the 04s, both Pegau’s and generally. I do think, now that they are 14 years old, that the 04s will make older bones than those earlier ones did (and for the 99s still do). They really seem to be in the middle of a long life.

I also like the 05s, by the way (as opposed to the 95s). My worry about their tannins at the beginning clearly turned out to be wrong. The ripe vintages I grow less and less fond of are the notorious 03s and 07s, even from Pegau, though I understand others liking them.

Love this and the 2004 Clos des Papes

I see little or no reviews on the recent vintages of Pégau, are they still making the same type of wines as before? If so I’ll go and get some recent years. I had the 09 (which reminded me a lot of the 1990 drank some months before) and 10 on release and they were really good. I didn’t taste any vintage after 2010.

Yes, very much so. I love them. But I think they unfortunately got a bit expensive.

And agree on the 2004s, by the way. Love the Cuvée Laurence especially.

I remember buying the 2004 at 28€ in the Caveau with Paul, they tasted so good young that they didn’t last very long, by 2009 all was finished. Bought some 05’s, all finished too but they never tasted as good as the 04’s, they always seemed not 100% balanced, a lot of concentration but all bottles fell into 2 categories: either the alcohol stuck out or it felt like drying out.

Sure!
After the great 2010 there were 2011 and 2013 very successful for the vintage, in the style of the 2008 but a bit more intense, 2012 and especially 2014 are very elegant and almost burgundian, and 2015 and 2016 (!) are again great vintages.

Commercial post: I import Pegau to most of the United States.

Rather than written comments on this thread, I’m going to paste in something I wrote for my team. It is a recap of the 33 vintages of Pegau I’ve imported. Rather than assign numerical scores, I’ve ranked each vintage from 1 to 10, one being the least and ten being the best.

One of my sales people asked if he could send this to his customers. I demurred. I said that Laurence would have to agree, and the odds that a winegrower would allow an importer to rank their vintages from 1 - 10, with almost half of them at 5 or less, was almost zero.

But Laurence Feraud is not your typical winegrower. I sent her the following. She asked me to change three scores by one rating each (two up, one down) and asked for one single word change. I had no problem, so here is my opinion of the 33 vintages I’ve imported:


Domaine du Pegau
Chateauneuf-du-Pape
33 Years

Rather than assign numerical scores, the vintages are ranked by quality, with ‘10’ being the best, ‘1’ being the least. These are the opinions of importer Dan Kravitz and no one else. Your mileage will vary.

1985 - 9, beautiful, balanced
1986 - 2, pleasant, light
1987 - 5, light, piquant, intense
1988 - 4, burly, solid, simple
1989 - 10, opulent, dense
1990 - 10, massive, fresh
1991 - 3, pleasant, diffuse
1992 - 2, straightforward, innocuous
1993 - 3, angular, sturdy
1994 - 6, balanced, lovely, sleeper
1995 - 5, powerful, angular
1996 - 4, harmonious, muted
1997 - 3, light, lively, slightly faint
1998 - 9, ripe, harmonious
1999 - 6, subdued, intricate
2000 - 7, ripe, light
2001 - 8, sturdy, fruit forward
2002 - 1, washed out
2003 - 8, rich, roasted, balanced
2004 - 7, balanced, long
2005 - 5, aggressive, firm, tight
2006 - 6, fruit forward, polite
2007 - 9, ripe, sturdy, powerful
2008 - 1, light, hard
2009 - 9, lush, firm
2010 - 10, massive, muscular
2011 - 7, polite, subdued, balanced
2012 - 5, powerful, uncompromising
2013 - 8, fruity, piquant, finesse
2014 - 6, fruit forward, mainstream
2015 - 8, foursquare, hard-driving
2016 - 10, lush, powerful, balanced
2017 - ?, tannic, concentrated, hard; early reports indicate a high rating

You may notice that I often prefer the ‘under the radar’ vintages.
Don’t say the 1994s are all gone. I’ve got most of a case in my basement, special occasion winter wines at this point.

My thanks to Laurence Feraud for allowing me to make this public.

Dan Kravitz

Interesting, Dan. Thank you!

I find it curious that you consider 2000 “light”. I love the 2000, but wouldn’t find myself calling it light. I have a couple bottles of the 2008, but haven’t tried that vintage yet: is it “light” in the same way 2000 is light?

Brian,

‘Light’ is the context of Pegau in general. It is not as light as, for example, a typical Cotes du Rhone. It is definitely lighter than 2001 Pegau and perhaps, surprisingly, lighter than 1999. Definitely lighter than 1998.

I am hesitant to stick my neck out any farther, but it is not light in the same way as 2008. 2008 is even lighter, many bottles brett-affected to a greater or lesser extent, and in general it is a rare vintage that I would drink about five years ago. I don’t think it will improve and suggest you open any you own soon (but not in the heat of the summer).

Dan Kravitz

Thanks, Dan, for your reply. And thank you, in particular, for your last sentence — you answered the question I was going to ask.

I love Pegau but did not start buying it until 2011, though I have backfilled a few vintages over the years. If the style remains the same, I will be a long time buyer.