Aging Chateauneuf du Pape

In some cases I think this is not enough age. If you take VT as an example, in the last few years the 1995 has started to exhibit what I think of as the win for aging it. I haven’t seen that yet in the 98, 99 or 00, even though those wines can be very enjoyable. In my opinion the 95 is turning into a stunning wine and is entering a long period where it will be very good. I loved it when it was very young too (first ~2 years after release) but it was totally different then. It was a very dark wine with a load of soft tannin. Now it’s more Rayas-styled.

98 was also good on release and then it shut down. After that I had it quite a few times, though I stopped drinking my own bottles as I didn’t think it was showing well. In the last few years I think it has come out of the shell, but it hasn’t yet gone the red-fruited route. For me, probably not yet as good as it was at 2 years old.

Interesting points, I have traded away the majority of my cnp, as I just don’t care for Grenache all that much right now but I do have a couple of 01’s left so I’ll let them sleep another 5 years and check in on them then.

YES!

(but I wouldn´t call a 98, 99 … really AGED !)

Not really surprised. Plus, I guess they would accound for fx variation, given that they have some volume to sell.

Just had the 2012 (good, but a bit too young for me to judge) and the 1998 for the first time, it is a great wine. Long finish on spices, full bodied, showing some evolution but can hold for some more time for sure.

Alain