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43 bottles of Beaucastel with Bob Parker

Last Post 08-16-2005 03:46 AM byEric LeVine. 20 Replies.

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Eric LeVine

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Posts: 384

08-14-2005 04:55 AM
43 BOTTLES OF CHÂTEAU BEAUCASTEL WITH BOB PARKER - Mark's Duck House, Falls Church, VA (8/12/2005) In the most recent Hospice du Rhone auction, Robert Parker donated a mixed case of Château Beaucastel with vintages heading back into the 1970’s. A small group of collectors decided to band together to win the auction lot and then share the wines in a tasting. We also gambled that we might be able to convince Bob to join us in opening the wines if we planned it around a meal close to home for him at this convenience. Our gamble paid off, and Bob also invited along a few special guests: Pierre Rovani, Mark Squires and Lettie Teague. The other attendees included Christine Huang, Scott Manlin, Mat Garretson, Craig Collins, Wilfred van Gorp, Jeff Leve and myself. Bob brought a few extra surprises, and the auction winners also chipped in various vintages of the Vieilles Vignes Roussanne as well as a complete vertical of the stunning Hommage à Jacques Perrin super-cuvee. 1969 Beaucastel label Some of the carnage... And so at 11:30am we found ourselves in Falls Church, Virginia sitting down for a ‘little bite’ of dim-sum at Mark’s Duck House. At our last tasting with Bob in February I had run out of steam and ended up closing my eyes for a few minutes (there was some jovial debate as to whether I had actually slept). This time I was determined to grit it out. Despite a long prior evening, I was armed this time with a nice, big spit-cup (I like to spit most wines in a tasting) as well as a nice dose of Starbucks. We started out with an interesting and educational treat. When the 1988 Beaucastel was bottled, Bob also asked the Perrin family to do a private bottling of several of the individual cépages instead of the usual blend (which can comprise up to 15 different varietals). 1988 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Individual Cépage bottlings: We compared the 1988 Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, Counoise, Cinsault and Muscardin. (There were also a couple of 1989 bottles, but I didn’t try them.) It was rather amazing how different they all were. The Syrah was peppery as one would expect, the Grenache a bit non-descript, the Muscardin extremely fragrant and also nice on the palate, and my favorite was the Mourvedre with a high-pitched nose (Pierre said it smelled like Raid which was true) and chewy, muscular palate. The Mourvedre also changed a great deal with aeration. Very interesting! Now the dim-sum started to fly, and over the course of the meal we powered our way through a delicious and relentless stream of dumplings stuffed with sweet shrimp, crab, lobster, pork & scallions (both steamed and then crispy pan fried), BBQ pork, BBQ pork buns, pot-stickers, garlic crusted softshell crab and then Peking duck. I’m sure I forgot a number of dishes as well, but man on man it was yummy!!!! We started out the real wines with a 7-bottle flight of the blanc Cuvée Roussanne Vieilles Vignes. 2003 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Cuvée Roussanne Vieilles Vignes - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Wow, I like these young, and this wine is armed for bear with an explosion of ripe, oily, tropical fruit. Yeah, there is some heat here, but the glycerin and fat are unreal as is the overall ripeness. 2002 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Cuvée Roussanne Vieilles Vignes - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape This smelled different from all of the other wines, sharp and a bit oaky, actually quite expressive. I like it, but it was the least oily and concentrated of the wines, a little stemmy. 2001 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Cuvée Roussanne Vieilles Vignes - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Like the 2003 this is exotic with tropical fruit cocktail, but the alcohol and overall balance here are better. This was probably the best wine of the flight. 2000 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Cuvée Roussanne Vieilles Vignes - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape I liked the nose, but the palate was totally shut down and oxidized tasting. (These wines go to sleep after about 5 years and eventually/sometimes re-emerge 10 years later). 1999 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Cuvée Roussanne Vieilles Vignes - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape The is more open than the 2000 and is enjoyable. However, it too is shutting down a bit and is throwing more notes of mineral and roasted nut than of fat, oily fruit. 1995 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Cuvée Roussanne Vieilles Vignes - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape A lot of people liked this, but I was not among them. I enjoyed the nutty, complex aromatics, but I missed the lushness on the palate of the youthful wines. 1986 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Cuvée Roussanne Vieilles Vignes - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape This was alive but only barely, and I was not a big fan. From here we settled into 17 vintages of the normal Châteauneuf-du-Pape dating back to 1969, such a joy to see through the ages: 1969 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape This was a pretty bottling with a very different label, and this was also a birth year wine for me, my first ever! Upon first pour my hopes jumped, as nice notes of tea-leaf and dried herbs wafted up from the glass. Alas, this crashed pretty quickly and seemed pretty mature and madeirized. 1978 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Fairly mute on the nose at first, but eventually nice notes of licorice and pepper came forth. This was a nice wine, perhaps a little past mature. 1979 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Wow, this was a clear step up from the 1978 with tapenade and leather, not a big wine but certainly very expressive and fresh, drinking exceptionally well! (We revisited it hours later and it was still going strong, the essence of garrigue.) 1981 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Whoa Nellie and Hello Mr. Ed, this is the real deal and the clear wine of the flight. A complex mélange of horse, cherry and Provencal herbs soared from the glass, and on the palate this was still big and sturdy with ages of time ahead, much darker and more intense and dense than either the 1978 or 1979. This was a flight of mostly weaker vintages apart from the 1985, but frankly all the wines showed very nicely. 1982 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape I rather liked this. Light and elegant, nicely mature, a very pretty, feminine style of wine that is drinking surprisingly well. 1985 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (magnum): This was the wine of the flight. Some volatility on the sweet nose. The palate is tannic and dark, an infant of a wine from mag that is has just barely started to unwind. 1986 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape The nose had some notes of vinegar, so I expected this to be DOA. However, this was hanging on OK. Probably the weakest wine of the flight, I will still drink this pretty happily on its own. 1987 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape This has a nice, funky nose. 1988 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape A little hot on the nose. The palate is dark and sturdy, somewhat ungenerous and a bit hard. Now we started getting to the serious wines with the always spectacular 1989 and 1990. The 1990 was the clear wine of this flight, not even close with anything else. 1989 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape This was not a fantastic showing for what is unquestionably a fantastic wine. Tight, showing lots of minerality and herbs, a tart note of cranberry. Bob and Pierre quietly mentioned that this may have been imperceptibly corked. I thought perhaps it was just tight/closed. 1990 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (magnum) Wow, this was utterly singing, the best of the regular Beau’s, with textbook garrigue, ripe fruit, yet very vibrancy and layered. This wine just rocks, and more and more I prefer it to the 1989. 1994 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape This was pleasant, a nice wine that opens well but has a fairly dry edge and lacks the generosity and depth of the other wines in the flight. The flavor profile is Beau, a bit dusty and perhaps always going to be a little dried out. 1995 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Tannic, dusky and dark, not giving much at all right now. As good as the prior flights, this four vintage stretch is just off the charts, especially the 1998. I think the 1998 may well be the best Beaucastel in time. It easily cleaned up this flight since the 2001 was out of the running. 1998 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape OMFG, what a nose! Horse, leather, herbs, more horse. Absolutely awesome. This is still chewy and young but loaded with gorgeous fruit, a surprisingly complex wine already. This was the first time I have tasted this, and it made me want to run home and open up (and buy) more! 1999 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Lots of soy on the nose. The dominating characteristic of the wine is a very tart note with a lot more obvious acidity than most other vintages. The palate was actually very open with a nice herbal quality, a good wine to drink with food. 2000 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Mmm, I always like this wine. Chewy, tannic, and black with a dark flavor profile, I love this one! 2001 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Badly corked! As if that wasn’t enough, now we opened up a complete set of Hommage à Jacques Perrin. I wasn’t taking a lot of notes here, but we are talking about some seriously chewy and wonderful wines made from old-vines Mourvedre. I loved them all, although in the case of the 1994 and 1999 one wonders why they just didn’t beef up the regular cuvee and hold off on releasing a Hommage. For the others, the 1989, 1990, 1998 and 2001 were just utter standouts, basically flawless wines, although stylistically probably not for those that don’t like wines of massive extraction. Even though they share little in common with the regular bottlings, there was an amazing parallel between the vintage personalities of the regular cuvee and the hommage bottling. 1989 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Utter bliss, probably my favorite of the Hommage. 1990 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape This was perhaps edged out by the 1989 at lunch, but wow, it’s splitting hairs. 1994 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape This was a nice wine, but of all of the Hommage this was probably the weakest. 1995 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Much like the regular cuvee, this was dense and dark, perhaps a bit more approachable than the regular cuvee. 1998 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape OMFG, this was fantastic, gamey and complex. I was pretty blown away by this 1998. 1999 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Poured in tough company. A nice wine and a big step up from the regular 1999 bottling. 2000 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Nice black fruit. 2001 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Wow, this is going to rival the top Hommage bottlings for sure, a brooding monster of a wine. Thanks to everyone for an utterly memorable experience, truly fantastic! Posted from CellarTracker

ChangeMe

Grape Sorter

Posts: 307

08-14-2005 11:03 AM
wow eric that was some event. amzing wines and company. you and uncle bob are becoming a regular on the social circuit, huh?

ChangeMe

Master of Wine

Posts: 11169

08-14-2005 01:08 PM
Question on the 1986 Beaucastel: I've had this a couple of times and it's seemed tannic and out-of-balance. Any chance the fruit will survive til this softens? If not, when do you think optimal drinking will occur? I don't think it has so far.

Pool Boy

Laurl, MD (DC suburb)
Master of Wine

Posts: 13773

08-14-2005 06:51 PM
good gosh that is just decadent

www.roguefood.com -- www.cellartracker.com

Eric LeVine

Grape Sorter

Posts: 384

08-14-2005 09:05 PM
Quote: Question on the 1986 Beaucastel: I've had this a couple of times and it's seemed tannic and out-of-balance. Any chance the fruit will survive til this softens? If not, when do you think optimal drinking will occur? I don't think it has so far. Board-O, I know your tastes run toward more mature wines, so I guess I would wait on the 1986. I don't think it is getting better, but perhaps it will get more complex. I was expecting that one to be dead, since it was so acetic on the nose, but the palate was fairly vibrant and sweet but not in a madeirized way. It was one of the weakest wines of the tasting but still pleasing. In one respect, that showed just how solid this producer is, weak vintage and still a wine drinking well nearly 20 years later. For me, if I had bottles of 1986, I wouldn't be waiting. The biggest surprise for me of the whole tasting was how stunningly good both 1998 (Hommage and regular) were. Seriously complex wines already. The regular is more approachable than I expected due to the high Grenache content, but the really interesting drinkign for that wine probably only begins 10 years from now with probably a long horizon after that.

David Niederauer

Los Gatos, CA
VinoCellar.com Extraordinaire

Posts: 30915

08-14-2005 09:44 PM
All that Hommage! WOW!

Eric LeVine

Grape Sorter

Posts: 384

08-15-2005 05:21 PM
Quote: All that Hommage! WOW! Wow is the word. Apart from the 1994 and 1999 (which were certainly very fine wines but not up to the grade of the others), the 1989, 1990, 1998 and 2001 have to be among the greatest wines I have ever tasted. And the 1995 and 2000 were just behind. These are some seriously beautiful and concentrated wines. That reminds me that I have one more set of notes to post...

Dave

Wine Connoisseur

Posts: 5772

08-15-2005 06:48 PM
Eric, thanks for taking the time to post these notes. They are appreciated.

ChillyWino

Barrel Racker

Posts: 1811

08-15-2005 07:20 PM
Eric, I have 1 bottle of the 1998 CDP. From the sounds of it, I might want to pop it sooner than later. Is there anything to gain by letting this one sit around longer? Jeff

Eric LeVine

Grape Sorter

Posts: 384

08-15-2005 07:25 PM
Quote: Eric, I have 1 bottle of the 1998 CDP. From the sounds of it, I might want to pop it sooner than later. Is there anything to gain by letting this one sit around longer? Jeff Oh goodness, the 1998 is surreal and will be so much greater in 10 years. I think this one will be better than the surreal 1989 and 1990 in time, and it is just a young pup now. The only reason to try the 1998 now is to convince yourself to go buy a LOT more. I know I am hunting now, as I only have 4 bottles and frankly would prefer to have more.

ChillyWino

Barrel Racker

Posts: 1811

08-15-2005 07:27 PM
Thanks for the note. Looks like I might need to track some down as well just so I have an excuse to sample one now.

ChangeMe

Master of Wine

Posts: 11169

08-15-2005 11:09 PM
In my years of experience with Beaucastel, which may be greater than any other wine if the number of different vintages is the main criterion, from a great year, this wine needs at least 15 years to reach its prime, maybe 20. It's often approachable young, but far greater when mature. What amazed me most about Beaucastel is the intensity of fruit at peak drinking. It seems to gain fruit as it ages, but that may just be the wine softening so that the fruit comes forward as the backbone retreats.

Eric LeVine

Grape Sorter

Posts: 384

08-15-2005 11:13 PM
Quote: In my years of experience with Beaucastel, which may be greater than any other wine if the number of different vintages is the main criterion, from a great year, this wine needs at least 15 years to reach its prime, maybe 20. It's often approachable young, but far greater when mature. What amazed me most about Beaucastel is the intensity of fruit at peak drinking. It seems to gain fruit as it ages, but that may just be the wine softening so that the fruit comes forward as the backbone retreats. Board-O, the 1979 we had is certainly a testament to your statement. A fantastic example. The 1978 was a little tired. Meanwhile, the 1981 is still inky young, horsey and intense, wowza! That said, I personally already derive amazing pleasure from the 1990. The 1989 though is a long, long, long way off.

ChangeMe

Master of Wine

Posts: 11169

08-15-2005 11:25 PM
I'll tell you something funny about the 1978. While it was a great year in the Rhone, I think it was a bit of an off-year from Beaucastel. I sold #12

Eric LeVine

Grape Sorter

Posts: 384

08-15-2005 11:29 PM
Quote: I'll tell you something funny about the 1978. While it was a great year in the Rhone, I think it was a bit of an off-year from Beaucastel. I sold #12 Well, I have only had 1 taste, but I would concur based on that one. Oh that 1979 though, wow! That probably was the only mature bottle of Beaucastel I have ever tasted from a good bottle, and hoohah was it wonderful! My problem is that I also like Beau fairly young, so I don't know if I will ever get to taste many mature examples.

ChangeMe

Grape Sorter

Posts: 307

08-16-2005 01:23 AM
glad to see you twon getting along

ChangeMe

Master of Wine

Posts: 11169

08-16-2005 01:46 AM
Stifle yourself, Edith!

ChangeMe

Grape Sorter

Posts: 307

08-16-2005 02:10 AM
LOL

jaimetown

DC area
Wine Labeler

Posts: 3547

08-16-2005 02:45 AM
What a cool dinner - I'm curious though, how did the Rhones pair with Chinese food?

MTPockets

Barrel Racker

Posts: 1837

08-16-2005 03:42 AM
I always thought the '81 was an amazing wine but I thought it would be tired by now. Glad to hear it is still going strong! What a great evening!

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