On a hot day, a cold lunch of sliced beef, brie, Camembert, cornichons, mustard, horseradish with pumpernickel, cream crackers, and fig/olive crisps paired with a couple of Southern Rhones. We went for a bike ride and polished off a spritzy/prickly Ameztol Rubentis while getting the fixings together for this.
2001 Vieux Donjon [Chateauneuf du Pape] A lovely example that is still singing, held since release, no decanting just popped and poured. Baking spices along with a garnet bricking robe. Just a great VD, which gets an A in my ledger.
2010 Brunely âTour Aux Callesâ [Vacqueyras] This producer makes a number of bottlings from this AOC and this is their top end one. It used to be grenache and mourvedre in the past but is now more of a typical GSM type blend, albeit with a big slug of the latter furry varietal. I had a bottle of the base 2007 Vacqueyras* a couple years ago (also after a ride, and with a cold platter) and thought it was fading at age ten. This 2010 Brunely is still ok, but I think itâs better consumed sooner than later. It is not developing the complexity that the CNDP showed, but its still a fairly rich/dense wine, with lots of Rhone character. Maybe it was just in comparison to the VD, but I didnât like this as much as I thought I would. Iâll slot it into the B+ zone. Lots of sediment, and still had its $19 tag from purchase years ago.
