2001 Domaine de Marcoux Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes- France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (10/12/2015)
Wow, this is the best Châteauneuf I’ve had in years … Deep, dark colour. An intriguing, complex bouquet of mixed spices, tar, Black Doris plums, old leather, prunes, raspberries and smokey, grilled game meats. Savoury but with underlying sweetness, showing some spicy oak. Similar complex flavours, with some sweetness on the attack, followed by more savoury flavours. A large scaled, concentrated, dense wine for sure, but in balance and not blousey. Very ripe, but sufficient acidity. Meaty and powerful but with spherical, fine grained tannins. Carries its high alcohol (15%) very well. Give it a decent decant. Drunk over three evenings. On its drinking plateau but no hurry here. (93 pts.)
Well, I love this wine … one of my favorite cuvees …
However
after several fine bottles over the last years I was served one recently (not from my cellar, probably not perfectly shipped or stored before purchase) that had a “strange” additional smell in the background, something like “cucumber” or rotten pumkin … but the palate was ok …
but perfect bottles are for me worth more than 93 points, 96 at least, sometimes 97p …
but nevertheless I still prefer the 1998 VV (98-99p)
… it´s also not the best Chateauneuf I had, neither 2001 nor 1998, there are others I would rate higher, fwiw last week 2003 Da Capo (100) and 2005 Plum du Peintre … (the latter was so incredible, if there isn´t a clear limit I would have said 101p …)
We recently had a bottle of this at a dinner. A lovely wine and I think the description is very accurate in the above tasting note (even though I don’t know what Black Doris plums are). I also think that the 93 points are a little conservative. Châteauneuf du Pape has taken its fair beating over the last decade and that may be due to some over the top wines having been pushed a little too far by some critics as well as the tendency to go bigger and bigger and add Super-Cuvée after Super-Cuvée to the portfolio. I avoided Châteauneuf du Pape for years, but I’m starting to drink more and more of it again. I only needed some time and tasting to find the ones I like (such as Marcoux, Villeneuve, Vieux Donjon) besides the ones of which I already knew I liked them (like Rayas, Beaucastel)
I have been really fond of the '01 CDP I have tasted…they seem very classic in style which appeals to my palate. The Marcoux seems a bit riper than the other CDP I have engaged and I must admit, this tasting note is KILLING!! Well done
