Opaque crimson with tons of sediment. Extremely potent, complex nose with great Rhone typicity: very dark plum and black cherry fruit, animal, an herbal smell that reminds me of gin (is that juniper?), smoked meat, leather, pepper. Very concentrated and not too tannic. A bit more alcohol than I’d like, and not outright heavy but definitely full-bodied. I was impressed by this, but think I’d like it much more in another 10-15 years once it trades some power for elegance and integration. (92 pts.)
Interesting, and thanks for the note, Dan; I’ve got a single bottle of the '99 which I’m sitting on, having no idea when to open it without fear of wasting my money (it will probably have to be relatively soon since I’m not getting any younger).
have you had this bottle the whole time? I’m curious only b/c that alcohol note is alarming. This is one of the lowest alcohol wines I can think coming out of CDP. I know 2001 was ripe, but it shouldn’t have had that alcohol popping through.
FWIW, I can’t say I’ve had a vintage that I thought was “ready” to drink, especially and including both the 89 and 90, that I had last summer. I had the leftovers of both the next day, and they were beyond mind boggling. If I had to take a shot in the dark, the 99 would probably be approachable the soonest, but I haven’t had that one. The 1995 would be tough, since it’s a tannic year, and most of the wines are coming down the back end at this point.
In general, I’ve liked the regular 1999 CdPs that I’ve had – ripe but not too ripe, nice acidities, accurate to the region – but I have no experience at all with any of the special cuvées, and I imagine Beaucastel’s Hommage is an outlier even in that company.
I like the fact that many wines age well, and I absolutely prefer drinking wines with age on them, but I’m talking 15 years or so; I think things become problematic when more and more of the better wines “need” more than a quarter century to become ready to drink. Will even the small production regions find enough buyers with that kind of patience and long term storage?
Ian, I ordered the wine at a restaurant. I believe the bottle label listed a very reasonable 13.5% ABV. It was by no means blistering hot or anything close to that; I can’t stand the turpentiney character of really over-alcoholic wines, and I thought this was excellent. There’s also a chance that my mind went there because the wine’s aromatics made me think of gin. My guess is that the alcoholic note will smooth over with additional bottle age.