2010 Vieux Donjon - It's not you, it's me...

What a hot mess.
Opened this and from the get go it was disjointed, alcoholic, very unpleasant.
So I decanted, recorked it and left it for the next day.
Granted some of fruit started to peak through on Day 2, 3 and 4, but wtf happened?
I used to love Southern Rhones, but over the years stopped buying as I have had similar experiences with several other producers…except for Pegau.

Not sure if it’s me or what, but this wine seemed totally indistinguishable with no distinct characteristics that I would expect from So Rhone.
Amazing this got such high ratings across the board.

But really, maybe it’s me not you Donjon…


[bleh.gif] [cry.gif]

I just wonder why on earth you would open a 2010? Maybe in 5 years…

It’s you but not for the reason you think.

It was more for curiosity and it was available in 375.
Didn’t have this experience with bottles from 98, 99, 2000, 2001 opened at release…

+1. Open an '01 and give your '10’s some time to come around. The posts about recent vintages of CdP being alcoholic, disjointed, etc are a dime a dozen now and dteng I respect your palate and taste in wine so no disrespect intended.

Tom

Dan,
It’s not you, it’s Philippe Cambie.

Perhaps my palate has changed more than I think.
I recall drinking many So Rhones soon after release (12-15 years ago) and found them enjoyable, much like many other wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy…
What I don’t get is - has it been like that with earlier vintages and I just didn’t taste it that way? Or has something changed dramatically?

I have some Rhones from 2000, 2001 left.
So to answer - why would I open a 2010? I thought I’d take a peak at recent releases to see if I need to restock.
Aren’t we suppose to taste before we buy?? good grief. newhere
(I’ve long abandoned buying points when I can!)

Agreed. I don’t buy points but I do buy track record. I have not gone wrong yet buying new vintages of longtime favorites like Vieux Donjon, Vieux Telegraphe, Clos de Papes, Charvin, etc even though in some cases I have not had the opportunity to try before I buy.

Tom

What temperature is the wine when you drink it?

No. We wait a few years and check CT to see if the wine is worth buying.

Tom,
I guess this is what puzzles me - I also go by history/track record but I don’t recall 2000, 2001 tasting like this at this stage.

Rob,
56 degrees.

Steve,
If you wait a few years, won’t it possibly be unavailable (or much less)?
And if it turns out to garner high praise, it’ll be much more expensive no?
Also, while I like CT, I still trust my palate most.

Mark,
Who is Philippe Cambie?

I guess bottom line - I want to know if something changed…

This could not be further from my experience with this wine, I found it outstanding as have many others. I am extremely sensitive to even the slightest whiff of alcohol and I too have been very put off by So. Rhones in this regard. I would suspect taint. I have found hot disjointed bottles followed by perfect ones and the only indication of taint was the cork was a bit off. I’m guessing the structure of the wine can get blasted before it becomes obvious.

Donjon is never an expensive wine so if it turns out to be good I can’t imagine the markup to be very much. I recently bought the 98 on WB for $80 and it was great. I would rather wait to see how a wine turns out than go by points and hope it turns out good.

I sampled the 2010 Donjon at a tasting before buying. I am sensitive to high alcohol, but I found this to be wonderfully balanced and seamless already. I bought a six pack and popped one a few months ago. Decanted it for a few hours before drinking and it was just as wonderful as it had been at the tasting.

I wondered if you were drinking it too warm, but 56 degrees is pretty close to optimum, so that doesn’t explain it.

Cambie is sort of the Michel Rolland of CdP. I am not a fan. However, I don’t believe he consulted on the 2010 Donjon. I believe he has left the building. Donjon is pretty traditional in that I do not believe any of the wine ever touches a barrique or new wood of any kind. I did not find it over ripe or extracted. I found it, like most of the 2010’s I’ve tried, to have some nice refreshing acidity to give it some elegance.

I guess this is just one of those wine mysteries.

Respectfully, Steve, I don’t get the advice you are giving on this thread. Assuming hypothetically that the wine indeed is hot, i.e. heavy on the alcohol, do you really expect that to integrate over time? I expect integration of certain elements, but heat? I won’t take that risk. Are you also suggesting that we do not trust our own palate on a young wine and instead defer to the vagaries of CT notes? If a wine is bad when young, it is likely to be bad when old.

I think Steve was joking.

As far as the 2010 Donjon goes, I just don’t remember it. I have some of the 2009s and didn’t find them as described, and Cambie was working with them at that time too, or so I believe. The larger point about S. Rhones is probably true, but I still like them from time to time. What I don’t understand is aging them. I happen to have a number from 1998 and 2000, only because I never got around to drinking them, not because I really intended to keep them in the hopes that they’d become more complex with time. It doesn’t seem that they really need to be aged - unlike Barbaresco and Bordeaux, they’re good out of the chute for the most part, and unlike Tempranillo-based wines, they don’t seem to transform into something entirely unlike their younger selves.

Cambie started consulting at VD in 2000 but I don’t think he had that great an influence in the early years.

Cambie is the death of Southern Rhone.

The 2001 vintage is the last vintage I can say I truly loved. Some good wines thereafter, but the quality of the vintage as a whole goes to 2001 IMHO. And they have aged beautifully.

To my taste Cambie has changed VD since 03, though I haven’t tasted the wine since the 06. I have heard nothing about Cambie and VD parting ways. He still lists himself as consulting for them on his website.

Although the Cambie style is all over the place, even where he is not a consultant, one can still find many wines made in a more traditional way: Charvin, Vieux Telegraphe, Mourre du Tendre, Ferrand, just to name a few.

If I see another 375 of this, I may try one more to see if it was just the bottle.

Frankly, when I tasted it and followed it over the course of a couple days, I was reminded of Quilceda Creek in the 1998 to 2001 time period. (I’ve loved 94-98,99)
Granted they are different wines, grapes etc, but to me with Donjon there was a definite shift/ change.

Interesting to hear about Cambie.
I had never heard of him…then again I’ve not paid attention to Rhone, too busy trying to figure out Burgundy still.

Jonathan,
I tried the Donjon thinking they were supposedly traditional.