Had this a couple of nights ago. Really delicious. Avoid if you don’t like 2003 CDP. Twas quite ripe.
2003 Les Cailloux (Lucien et André Brunel) Châteauneuf-du-Pape- France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (7/22/2009)
You know, I have struggled with some 2003 CDP, but if you don’t mind something that is a bit roasted and ripe this is just freaking delicious. Pure, hedonistic CDP. Not too alcoholic or astringent. Wonderful core of garrigue with a stunningly plush pile of Grenache and bramble. Very enjoyable. (93 pts.)
I liked this wine a lot. I am surprised it is hanging in their. I had predicted that this wine would be undrinkable pretty quickly, and I recommended that everyone drink their stock up 2 years ago.
I was re-organzing things in my cellar last week, and I found two more bottles. I wa splanning on drinking them quickly, an dhoping for the best. Thanks for letting me know they are still hanging in there.
This doesn’t seem in danger of crashing anything soon. There is a great core of garrigue.
BTW, I have had the 1990 a number of times at blind tastings where on 3 separate occasions it has smoked both the 89 and 90 Beaucastel (wines that I LOOOOOVE). If this 2003 behaves anything like the 1990 I think that there are actually better days ahead. Maybe age one as an experiment?
I based my fear of it falling apart early on two things:
the wine was at peak at release. This is not a bad thing, though, IMHO
Most importantly, every bottle of this that I opened, the cork was loosey goosey. When I posted TN’s and asked for other’s experiences, they said they same thing. My fear is that with corks this loose and the bottles not tightly sealed, the bottles would be exposed to air and possibly oxidize quickly. If that is not the case, that is great.
I did another corned beef. The family just seems to dig corned beef more than Pastrami. Kills me. I need to work on my pastrami anyway. You should stop in Montreal on route to Seattle and have some of that remarkable smoked meat. Unreal. Better than NY pastrami?
