Out of half-bottle, this is spectacular now. Best bottle of Beaucastel I’ve had among 1989, 1990, 1994, 1998, 1999 and 2000. Dense mid-palate, smoky, gamy, and peppery, but also very round and pure. Makes me think I have made a big mistake. I had more or less concluded that this was a producer others just liked more than I do. Good, but not good enough to keep up with the price increases. But, wow, this is really impressive.
I’m smilin’ (2 750’s lying down)!
Love the 2000 and don’t think it is really overpriced at around $70 to $80 for the '07.
Wow- I’ve got one in the to-go pile.
My last TN copied from CT:
6/21/2009 rated 91 points: Dark, brooding, still too young. Reticent nose and palate. Great balance and structure. Palate was deep and rich and yet restrained. Could not distinguish seconday or tertiary notes. Hold a few more years before trying again. Could warrant higher score as it matures. Was eclipsed by the 2000 Pegau this evening,IMHO.
I still have 10 fom my original case. Life is good.
I quite love the 2000, good show!
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2000 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (1/6/2010)
Mmm, this has always been an especially forward vintage of Beau, and this bottle was no exception. Berry and briar, very Grenachey in personality, showing plenty of structure but with lovely baby fat overlaying this. Amidst the bright berry tones are some musky, dusky hints of Mourvedre, but the Grenache runs roughshod over it. Mouthwatering and juicy at first, this does clamp down on your palate with a vengeance. Pure, tight, deep, dusk flavors. Far more four-square than most Châteauneuf. (93 pts.) -
2000 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (8/17/2007)
Mmm, this wine has just never shut down. More expressive on first open and then shut down a bit with decanting. Far from classic Beaucastel; very approachable and ripe, chewy, strong on Grenache. Love this vintage. A lot of fun. -
2000 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (2/26/2006)
Seattle Tasting Group does Beaucastel (Issaquah, WA): Huge, saturated and young, this screams Grenache at the top of its lungs. Smoke, ash and some heat tinge the nose. The palate is VERY young, peppery, powerful, getting some game elements with air. I took one more pour of this wine and mmm, wowza, this is the real stuff. Love it! (95 pts.) -
2000 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (8/12/2005)
43 bottles of Château Beaucastel with Bob Parker (Mark’s Duck House, Falls Church, VA): Mmm, I always like this wine. Chewy, tannic, and black with a dark flavor profile, I love this one! -
2000 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (3/5/2004)
Damn, another stunner. I’m back at the Chateau Whistler and ordered another bottle off their list. Stunningly black/purple in color. This shows a nose of black fruit, roasted meat, licorice, alcohol, and deep extract. Gorgeous! The palate is supercharged yet stunningly smooth with garrigue and typical Grenache yet a much deeper, blacker, more brooding personality. Absolutely stunning. The finish is long and powerful. This wine is amazing in its youth, yet I am glad to have socked away a half case for the long haul. (94 pts.) -
2000 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (1/29/2004)
After a REALLY long couple of days at work, I needed a treat. I stopped by McCarthy & Schiering on the way home and grabbed this bottle of the shelf, bagged it, and opened it on the spot to see if I could stump the staff. It worked, although Steven Havas had seen me grab a CNdP and actually did peg the producer and vintage on this one, nice job! Anyway, onto the wine. Immediately upon popping the cork this one was giving off a lovely funk and showing huge, layered, primary fruit on the palate. The nose was really boisterous, but not clearly Rhone. The palate screamed Mourvedre, black, funky and awesome. With half an hour open, the Grenache really started to shine, as this showed bright cherry fruit, garrigue, and more funky animal on the palate. At the same time, this was wine open and giving love, extremely approachable, very long and massively layered. As the evening wore on this amazingly became more primary, showing amazing power and fruit with loads of licorice. I really love this wine wight now, as it gives a TON of pleasure. (94 pts.) -
2000 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (12/19/2003)
Dinner at the Chateau Whistler. Ordered from the restaurant wine list. I actually ordered the 1999, but they had run out and wondered if I wouldn’t mind the 2000 at the same price. Uh, yeah sure, duh! This was actually my virgin Beaucastel experience, and I was excited to try the wine with a braised veal dish served with sweetbreads and roasted root vegetables. This was food and wine heaven, the best possible match!
The nose initially features very bright notes of cherry intermingled with some dusky elements. With time in the decanter this exploded with complexity and a dominant licorice element emerged along with more subtle notes of black olive, roasted meat and pine needles. The palate was even more impressive with a stunningly sweet and approachable entry that is followed by a monstrous palate, simply HUGE in character! Oh my, this palate is supercharged, simply massive and black, unreal! The finish is equally long and powerful. I was stunned by the complexity and power of this wine, and at the same time it was amazingly approachable. Gorgeous CNdP!
DAY 2: This has gotten much more black with a distinct leathery feel and a real animal aspect, much more Mourvedre in focus now and less Grenache. This stuff is monstrous and delicious! (95 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker
Wow, that’s a lot of bottles with consistent notes. I’ve only had it a few times and find it to be the Mr. Rogers of Beaucastel – bright, clean and happy without any dark undertones. It’s been three years since my last bottle, so I guess I’m due for a check-in. I’m thrilled to have 11 bottles from a case purchased on release waiting for me in the cellar, but based on my CellarTracker notes to date I’ve preferred '81, '83, '89, '90, '94 and '98 by a pretty far margin.
Joe:
I haven’t tried the 2007. If it drinks like the 2000, I agree that $70-80 is at least a fair price, if not a bargain. But the pricing increased very steeply after 1994, and while I have had some bottles that were very good of vintages other than 2000, they weren’t in a style that wowed me. I expect a lot from a $75 bottle. The 2000 delivered.
Here are my notes to add to the party. Just two very good bottles and one corky one. Love the wine though.
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2000 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (4/30/2009)
2000 Chateauneuf-du-Pape tasting (Extra Space, Singapore): Extremely disappointing, especially since I was looking forward to this after my previous experiences with this vintage. An off-bottle perhaps, or mild heat damage? No noticeable flaw on this – but most of us who had drunk this before put it down to bottle-variation of some sort. It was like night and day compared to the previous bottlings I have had. This had none of the feral meatiness that a young Beaucastel has, instead we got a tight-fisted nose that showed a hint of sweet, candied cherries. Palate was similarly unyielding, with a thin showing of sweet licorice, cherries and plums along with slightly tart acidity and a touch of pepper. Not disastrous, but very one-dimensional. It finished sharply, with a slightly wash of heat. Drinkable and decently balanced, but certainly not the same wine I knew. (89 pts.) -
2000 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (2/7/2009)
Dinner with Ray, Lionel and Rachel (Le Bouchon, Rive Gauche, Robertson Walk): On a day with three events and quite a few decent wines, this stood head and shoulders above the rest. It started out good, but not quite as nice as the last bottle I had, but as the night progressed, it just got better and better - especially with the Cote de Beouf that we had. Nose had typical Beaucastel leather, some soy, raosted meat tones, cherry, licorice and tar. Complex and lovely. Gorgeous balance on the palate, with good acidity wed to persistent but elegant flavours of cherries and plums wrapped in a layer of leather. This bottle was a little less forward than the last one I had, with a real sense of freshness and youth, and plenty of grip in its supple tannins. Lots of complexity towards the long finish, which showed some ferrous mineral and more cherry tones. Very, very nice indeed. (94 pts.) -
2000 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (7/31/2008)
GoP 4.8 - Wines of Chateauneuf-du-Pape (with a little detour) (Extra Space, Singapore): I might be biased because this was my donation and because it’s a Beau, but this was my WOTN, just pipping the excellent Charvin 1999. Special mention also goes to the wonderful pairing with rib-eye steak on the night. The wine was dark purple wine with a rim shading towards garnet. Absolutely gorgeous Beaucastel / mourvedre driven nose, with layers and layers of leather and red meat, with little undertones of animale and barnyard giving a hint of wildness, dark cherry, kirsch, a touch of garrigue and perfumed, flowery notes floating at the top. Wonderful on the palate as well, with really bright acid that suprised me with almost every sip giving the wine a really clean, elegant feel. Lots of concentrated flavours here - more slightly sweaty leather, rare red meat, pepper and load and loads of dark, dark cherry winding its way seamlessly into a long, meaty finish with bits of root and garrigue, the smallest touch of mineral and a lingering sprinkle of powdery tannins. Very complete, seamless, perfectly balanced. Yum. (94 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker