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2004 Domaine Pierre Usseglio & Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de mon Aïeul - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (10/5/2011)
Nose of pepper, raspberry, Garrique and stone. On the palate lots of spice, pepper, minerals and Garrique. Medium finish and overall a nice wine. With some age I hope the intense spices settle down as it will be a better wine. Really in-between New and Old World style.
Day 3: Much more balanced and the spices have chilled out. Still has the pepper, Garrique, pepper and minerals but much more drinkable. I would drink now or age for a decade. I like it better now and would see this wine scoring 93-95. (92 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker
NOSE: rich boysenberry/loganberry combination, with a little black cherry, too; moderate notes of wet stones and old wood furniture; hint of anise; not bretty. Nose seemed to aerate into a more darkened profile with time in the decanter. Expressive, but still mostly primary.
BODY: medium-grained particulate matter present; garnet color at the core, with a little bit of browning at the edges; color is of medium depth; medium-full bodied.
TASTE: first thing noticed is some purple/red berry flavors that are just starting to show some aged development; good mineral and leather tones; hints of green herbs, underbrush, and a lamb-like note of gaminess; long finish of moderate intensity; a bit thin/diffusely flavored fruits for this bottling – this is not a blockbuster, but is still very good; fine to medium-fine tannins are still somewhat drying; 14.5% labeled alc. is not noticeable; adequate acidity; well-balanced with decent structure. This wine seems to have emerged from whatever closed period it may have gone through, although it’s still mostly primary in nature. I don’t see this getting real long in the tooth, but do think it will continue to improve in the cellar over the next few years. Drink now through 2019.
B: 50, 5, 13, 16, 7 = (91+ pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker
I wish ours had tasted like yours. I do have a few in the cellar, so with luck this was just a bad bottle.
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2004 Domaine Pierre Usseglio & Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de mon Aïeul - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (12/19/2011)
Reds at Dave’s: This was decanted ahead of time, but apparently never showed much promise. When finally poured this was just plain weird with odd aromas on the nose (medicine, candy cane, rubber) and no taste to speak of. I’d been looking forward to trying this since it’s available locally at a good price but will have to pass based on this tasting. NR (flawed)
Posted from CellarTracker
Hmm, bummer 'bout that, Dave. No way in hell could the Nose on my bottle be described as tight or non-existent. Sounds like your flawed assessment was spot-on. I got mine from the Haskell’s sale, too. Still have 3 more. No shame in drinking these now; and, I do think they will last longer than 2019, btw – I’m just guessing sometime around 2020 will be the beginning of its descent.
Thanks Brian. I tasted the '04 from bottle at the Domaine in 2006 and loved it; hopefully my next bottle will return to form.
2004 Domaine Pierre Usseglio & Fils Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de mon Aïeul - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (8/11/2012)
– decanted immediately before tasting –
– tasted non-blind over a few hours –
NOSE: primary/tertiary purple fruits; mesquite; very deep and concentrated plum; baked cherries; hint of mineral; moderately to very expressive.
BODY: rustic red color with some age showing at the edges; medium to medium-full bodied.
TASTE: overripe purple fruits — almost tastes a bit cooked; low acid; fine tannins have a little grip, but are mostly integrated; 14.5% alc. is a little noticeable; much worse than three previous bottles.
B: 50, 5, 12, 13, 5 = (85 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker