'07 Chateauneuf (cont.) - Vieille Julienne

Dan_Kravitz · April 26, 2020, 11:20pm

A sporadic board topic, with members divided between the ‘GV’ and ‘HM’ camps. IIRC the board tends towards ‘HM’ (Hot Mess) more than ‘GV’ (Great Vintage). I am on the Great Vintage side, but…

Young pure medium dark ruby color. The aromas offer more red fruit than black, raspberry more than cherry, a small touch of garrigue but there is also a hint of volatility. The flavors follow the aromas. The texture has very good richness, moderate, fine, resolved tannins and good balancing acidity. There’s a touch more good green garrigue in the flavor than in the aromas. But in this bottle, there is noticeable alcoholic heat. The labels say ‘15.5%’ on the producer’s main label, while the importer’s strip label says ‘14.1 - 16%’. Over the years, I’ve been pretty good at assessing alcohol and my thinking is 16% is about right. This is a big wine, with serious concentration, but it is a little out of balance. Like so many of my bottles, this is a singleton and I have a feeling that it would have been better a little younger. At 7 - 10 years, youth and vigor might have masked the alcohol a little better. For tonight, I’m rating this 90.5 and I suspect that the alcohol will intrude more with additional age. A very fine wine that would flirt with greatness with a little less alcohol.

Dan Kravitz

Kris_Patten · April 27, 2020, 12:33am

Outside of Rayas, Beaucastel, Mordoree Reine des Bois, Pegau, and Viex Donjon, I prefer CdP in the 3-9 year range.

dsimmons · April 27, 2020, 8:08pm

I have had this wine three times and have enjoyed them all. I drank my last bottle in '19 and have one remaining. For my tastes '07 has been a GV.

Carl_Steefel · April 27, 2020, 8:52pm

A sporadic board topic, with members divided between the ‘GV’ and ‘HM’ camps. IIRC the board tends towards ‘HM’ (Hot Mess) more than ‘GV’ (Great Vintage). I am on the Great Vintage side, but…

Young pure medium dark ruby color. The aromas offer more red fruit than black, raspberry more than cherry, a small touch of garrigue but there is also a hint of volatility. The flavors follow the aromas. The texture has very good richness, moderate, fine, resolved tannins and good balancing acidity. There’s a touch more good green garrigue in the flavor than in the aromas. But in this bottle, there is noticeable alcoholic heat. The labels say ‘15.5%’ on the producer’s main label, while the importer’s strip label says ‘14.1 - 16%’. Over the years, I’ve been pretty good at assessing alcohol and my thinking is 16% is about right. This is a big wine, with serious concentration, but it is a little out of balance. Like so many of my bottles, this is a singleton and I have a feeling that it would have been better a little younger. At 7 - 10 years, youth and vigor might have masked the alcohol a little better. For tonight, I’m rating this 90.5 and I suspect that the alcohol will intrude more with additional age. A very fine wine that would flirt with greatness with a little less alcohol.

Dan Kravitz

Your guess of 16% sounds about right. That is where these seem to be coming in…

Jonathan_Favre · April 27, 2020, 8:57pm

A sporadic board topic, with members divided between the ‘GV’ and ‘HM’ camps. IIRC the board tends towards ‘HM’ (Hot Mess) more than ‘GV’ (Great Vintage). I am on the Great Vintage side, but…

Young pure medium dark ruby color. The aromas offer more red fruit than black, raspberry more than cherry, a small touch of garrigue but there is also a hint of volatility. The flavors follow the aromas. The texture has very good richness, moderate, fine, resolved tannins and good balancing acidity. There’s a touch more good green garrigue in the flavor than in the aromas. But in this bottle, there is noticeable alcoholic heat. The labels say ‘15.5%’ on the producer’s main label, while the importer’s strip label says ‘14.1 - 16%’. Over the years, I’ve been pretty good at assessing alcohol and my thinking is 16% is about right. This is a big wine, with serious concentration, but it is a little out of balance. Like so many of my bottles, this is a singleton and I have a feeling that it would have been better a little younger. At 7 - 10 years, youth and vigor might have masked the alcohol a little better. For tonight, I’m rating this 90.5 and I suspect that the alcohol will intrude more with additional age. A very fine wine that would flirt with greatness with a little less alcohol.

Dan Kravitz

Thanks for the note Dan! I’m in the same camp as you about these '07s - a recent '07 Barroche Pure was really nice. Haven’t had this '07 Vieille Julienne before though - was it indeed the “regular” bottling (I know there’s nothing regular about it :p), VV, or Reserve?