TN: 2009 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  • 2009 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (9/22/2019)
    First time trying this wine. Bought the bottle 6 years ago and it’s been sitting in our cellar. Brief decant. Not much on the nose, even after some coaxing. Some red fruit on the palate, but straightforward and not very sophisticated. I’m disappointed having paid $90 for this, and letting this age for 10 years. Tastes more like a $30 wine. What am I missing here? (90 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

Ouch.

That sounds pretty grim. I’ve not tried the '09 but it certainly doesn’t seem like a “typical” showing. Could it be low-level TCA? Or, of course, Beaucastel is just not that good in '09! The youngest I’ve had recently was 2000,which is showing very nicely.

Not experiencing any TCA. Just a simple wine. Maybe an “in between” phase?

Reminds me of all those “dumb phase” argumenta way back when on eBob. I have no personal opinion on that, but 10 years is relatively young for any good beaucastel vintage, I would consider trying back in a few years.

Oh. And $90 is steep IMO for beaucastel. I only buy when I can find for 60-70. Hence I dont buy every vintage anymore.

i had the giraud CdP tradition 2007 and 2009 the other day; while the 07 was nice and drinkable, the 09 was stewed, alcoholic and an aromatic mess. dunno if that might hold true for other CdP as well …

matthias

I had the 09 Beaucastel a while back together with 07, 08 and 10 - it wasn´t a really great wine but showed well if very young.
However imho it´s not the best age to taste 2009 Chateauneuf-du-Papes now, several were unyielding last spring, incl. B., Clos des Papes and Marcoux VV.

I skipped 2009 Beaucastel so can’t comment on it from personal experience, but I do have many other vintages. It’s one of the few CduPs that often need more like 15-20 years to strut its stuff, at least to my palate. IIRC, 2009 was reputed to be a riper, lower acid “solar” year in CduP, which is probably why I skipped it.