the 2003 vintage for Chateaneuf du Pape has been vilified as too hot, too pruney, too much roasted fruit. This vintage gets less love than 2007 in Oregon, which in hindsight has turned out better than predicted. The 3 wines we had last night were none of the above. All were decanted for 2 hrs in a wide bottom decanter. I’m looking forward to visiting more 2003’s As I have a boat load.
2003 Chateau La Nerthe. Not my favourite producer by a longshot, but I buy them because our monopoly carries them faithfully. First clue these wines were not over ripe is the colour. Beautiful scarlet colour that swirled down the decanter, after pouring out the whole bottle you could still see thru to the bottom of the decanter. I have seen darker 06 Oregon Pinot’s. Nose of lavender and white pepper. An initial blast of bright vibrant red fruit carried to the end on perfect acidity with slight tannin undertones. Delicious wine.
2003 Font de Michelle Cuvee Etienne Gonnet. First taste of this producer. Slightly darker wine. Similar nose. New level of intensity. Wow. This has to be as good as it gets for this wine. It attacks every corner of your palate with bright uplifted red fruit. Yikes is this good. Hard to put the glass down.
2003 Pegau Reserve. Have had this multiple times, its best showing was last summer from magnum. Normal modern purple. Great nose of warm asian spice and cinnamon. On the palate this wine does not attack, but oozes and coats your palate with a nice viscous texture. Long long finish. Totally different wine, slightly more ponderous after tasting the other 2. I would be hard pressed to guess Chateauneuf. Still pretty darn good. This wine seems to get better every time I taste it. I don’t know how though, as it seems devoid of tannin and acidity to resolve. Seems more typical of 2003.