2007 Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Non-commercial post: I imported this wine, about 5 cases. The grower produces mostly Cotes du Rhone. This was the last vintage I imported. I liked the people and the wines, but they were not commercially viable for my business.

There have been a lot of comments in a recent thread about the 2007 vintage, overall IIRC more negative than positive. I don’t have broad experience, but more than usual for me. I own about half a dozen bottlings besides Pegau which I import, and will be opening them relatively quickly as it’s winter in Maine and 12 years seems like a good age for these wines.

2007 Le Plan Vermeersch Chateauneuf-du-Pape GT-1 –

Very dark crimson. Explosive, very ripe aromas feature red plums, earth and sage. The aromas are powerful and penetrating, but not aggressive. The palate is as rich and powerful as the aromas suggest, the fruits are mostly red, mostly plums, but there is a hint of black cherry, lots of garrigue and lots of very fine, mostly resolved tannins. There is just a touch of confit fruit and just a touch of alcohol in the finish, but these are secondary and complementary to overall gorgeous fruit, richness and balance. Rated 94. I have a few bottles left and will not open another for a few years. There’s some risk involved as this could get tired, but there could be an upside as increased subtlety and polish seem like an equal possibility. I’ve always liked this vintage and this bottle is confirmation. According to the back label, this has a reasonable alcohol level of 16.5%.

Dan Kravitz

Yeah, but how much unreasonable alcohol is in there, too.

Sushi

Begs the question: what’s unreasonable?

Don’t know this wine, but wow! 16.5%! Whatcha eatin’ with that and how did it pair?

En Magnum

.

I’ve fallen out of love with very ripe CdP and Grenache, so this would probably not be in my wheelhouse, but that doesn’t make it a bad wine for those who appreciate the style.

As to the “reasonable” alcohol comment, I think Dan is saying that he doesn’t perceive the wine as overly alcoholic on tasting. Some of that can be personal preference, though I don’t know Dan to be a fan of rocket fuel. More likely it’s the case that this is one of those wines that handles high alcohol levels very well from an organoleptic perspective. They don’t come across as overly alcoholic when drinking them, just an hour later when you’re drunk on them.

I wonder how accurate we’d all be in blindly trying to identify a wine’s ABV.

I’ve been a pretty big fan of the 07 beaucastel; from an initial case we’ve had about 6 bottles over the last 8 years and they’ve all drank wonderfully. 07 VT last year was nice too. Not sure about Clos des Papes or others.

I’ve been less happy with 07 Beaucastel than you, Michael. It’s been better than modt other 2007 CdP I’ve drunk, and a couple of bottles have shown promise. The most recent one a few months ago was too ripe and sweet for me to love it. I actually preferred the 2007 VT to the Beaucastel since I didn’t get any candied notes in the couple of bottles of VT I’ve drunk.

I have great respect for Dan’s palate, not only as I read his tasting notes here but from the wine he imports. As a fan of CdP, I have alsp developed a tolerance for high alcohol wines, though not a positive love for high alcohol. All that said, I have never to my knowledge had a wine that high in alcohol that did not taste of it. I might still be able to like the wine in its way, but I don’t know that I’d call the alcohol reasonable. Since I’m guessing this wine is not easily available anywhere, I won’t learn differently from trying this one.

2007 has been underwhelming for me with my standbys, Vieux Telegraphe and Domaine La Milliere. More recent CT notes have been positive, but I’ll hold off a couple more years before retasting. The only other 2007 CDP I have left is the controversial Clos Des Papes, for which there have been a plethora of recent positive notes. I’ll check it out soon. Not with sushi.

Addendum: IIRC the abv on the Clos Des Papes is also in the reasonable 16-16.5% range.
So definitely interested in what Dan paired with his CDP.

Thanks to all who answered.

My comment about ‘reasonable’ alcohol was part troll for the low-alc folks and part a serious comment.

I don’t care if my wine is 7% or 17% alcohol, as long as it is balanced. This wine was balanced. The troll was for the first phrase of the sentence, the serious part about the second.

IMO I’ve gotten pretty good at estimating the alcohol levels in wines. I spend a fair amount of time blending wines for my business and quite often guess the alcohol levels of the tank samples I’m working with. In other times, I would sometimes work on blends of southern French reds with a specific goal of keeping the alcohol under what was then the higher tax category of 14.1%+, without sacrificing quality or style. In general I can usually guess alcohol within a half point either way. It’s pretty uncommon for me to be off by as much as 1%. At some point before the tasting on which I just posted, I probably knew the alcohol of this wine but didn’t remember it after 7 or so years since I last tasted it. My thinking was 15+ but probably not more than 15.5%. If pressed, I would have said 15.2%. Then I looked and saw 16.5%, so I was pretty far off.
I also don’t know the pH, but my guess here would be about 3.8. I’ve had plenty of wines pushing and at 4, once they get close to or over 4 I tend to find them flabby. When I open this wine again, I’ll do it at a place where the pH can be measured. Now I’m curious.

I’ve got a couple of more 2007 Chateauneufs lined up for this winter and will post. Of course I’ll need to gather some peeps, as I’d love to taste another one side by side with Pegau and I’m not opening two bottles of 2007 Chateauneuf to drink alone.

Dan Kravitz

PS: In response to overwhelming demand (2 posters IIRC), I hereby disclose the food match for this Chateauneuf:

Chicken pot pie.

A wine and food match made in heaven for a Maine winter evening. Do not try this in Florida in August.

Sally had major surgery last month (she’s doing well now), but is still not able to fully function, so I’ve had cooking, dishwashing, laundry, recycling duties we normally share. Some of our friends have been kind enough to drop off meals from time to time. Vicki provided this and it was excellent, a perfect winter comfort food.

Dan Kravitz

You should consider health aides coming in once or twice a week to do some of those duties and a cleaning service once or twice a month. Relieves some of the frantic stress for both of you.
Thanks for the food report. It sounds great! I’m thinking mushroom pot pie or mushroom bourguignon for the Clos Des Papes.

Too much is made of the ABV level, IMO, and the number on the label gives the complainers something to complain about. If it affects the taste negatively then that’s what matters and everyone has their different tastes. Case in point for me is the Big Basin Paderewski GSM at 15.5% ABV. It’s a total fruit bomb kick in the butt and that’s what it is, it has it’s place. As wine drinkers we should be able to monitor the variations in alcohol effects on our bodies as we drink and moderate out consumption if necessary for higher ABV. No biggie.

To follow the theme here, this weekend I uncorked one of the Vieux Telegraphe 2007s I have been sitting on for years to check in on its development. Color more youthful than expected. After decanting for about 30 minutes, the first palate impression was cherry flavored medicine – ripe, hot, and not very interesting. Similar to other 2007s this seems to have peaked early. With more time, it puts on weight and flavors move into a lower register with more depth. Still it’s a dark roasted fruit profile, and though there is very good length, this just isn’t my palate these days. Labeled at 14.5% ABV, FWIW.

I am just about to open the Vieille Julienne and the Anonyme…

Opened a 2007 Charvin tonight. Initially pretty chunky on the palate, but with 30 minutes or so of air time, the nose started showing kirsch and the palate softened somewhat. Labeled as 15%, alcohol in balance.