2001 & 2003 Vieux Telegraphe; thoughts on hot vintages

WINE TALK
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Last night I thought it would be fun to compare a couple of VT vintages that I’ve enjoyed, so in the company of my mother, brother and a wine-geek friend we had these two wines with dinner as described below. 2001 has continued to be outstanding, and at 17, is in a particularly nice place. The 2003 is dropping off. I enjoyed it much more just a few years ago, and while wines can seem to go in and out of more drinkable phases, this just seemed way more simple rather than muted.
Which gets me to hot vintages, of which 2003 in Europe was an especially hot year. It definitely seems that the drinking window to catch nuanced wines is way shorter when the ripeness is amped up. So I’ve been wary of giving up too soon on 2007 VT, given that some vintages like 1998 took over 15 years to truly show their greatness. 2003 is not on the same track as 1998 or 2001, and now I’m losing confidence that 2007 will bloom as well.

  • 2001 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Crau - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (8/17/2018)
    Decanted and left in 64F/18C cellar before serving about 90 minutes later. Vigorous dark red color. Balanced nose of mature elegant VT. Palate has depth and complexity. The trademark garrigue, kirsch, leather, earth and mineral are all there, with the balance and flavor profile shifting delightfully on each sip. Served with skirt steak, dressed in zabar’s mustard, walnut oil and pepper and briefly put under the broiler, and stir-fry broccolini with balsamic vinegar. Outstanding. (94 pts.)
  • 2003 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Crau - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (8/17/2018)
    Good bold color and correct if unexciting VT nose. Feels ripe on the palate and also a bit simple. This bottle has the misfortune of being opened next to a stellar 2001 VT, so it suffered in comparison. Very Good to Excellent, scoring as Excellent. (90 pts.)

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I was really underwhelmed by 3 bottles of the 2003 Vieux Donjon over the years too. I am not sure I have tried the 03 VT though.

Nice comparison. FWIW the 01 VD is excellent.

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Thanks Arv. I forgot to add day 2 impressions since a couple of glasses of the 2003 were leftover: I thought it was overripe plummy, and my wife found it high octane.

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03 Vieux Donjon was a poster child for everything wrong about 03. The 03 Vieux Telegraphe’s I have had, while certainly identifiable as coming from that vintage, managed, as some other domaines did, to control the canicule effects to an extent and still make a wine that had domaine characteristics. I haven’t tried one in over a year, though, so maybe it has gone down steeply this year. With 03s, that wouldn’t surprise me. I don’t think even vintage supporters ever thought they would make old bones.