2004 Chateau du Beaucastel CDP

[TheEngineer]

This was tasted at an LCBO counter and as such might not be a great representation of the wine.

In fact, wine was served a bit on the arm side. Colour was a purple garnet but transluscent. Nose was a bit off for me, with lots of high tone acidity, light berry and a bit of herbalness. On the palaite, solid structure for what looked like a pale wine. Fruits were secondary and fleeting. Finish was long but not entirely enjoyable due to acidity. I honestly believe that the poor showing was due to the temp.

[winoweenie]

I agree with your conclusion wholeheartedly there Eng. I know ebber time I drink a wine on the "arm side" it done be berry gud. WW [img]http://wines.com/ubb/wink.gif[/img]

[TheEngineer]

You should've seen the guests who were served leg side.....entirely different aromas apparently were noted by the tasters... [img]http://wines.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

[dananne]

Thanks for the chuckle!

I have somewhat limited experience with Beaucastel, so my thoughts can be taken with a grain of salt, but I do have a little row of the 99-03 resting comfortably in the cellar, and I've tasted a few here and there at tastings and such. What I've noticed is that they go rather quickly into a dumb or sleepy phase, and rarely poke their heads out of hibernation for about 10 years. Sometimes, it seems all the components are there, but everything is muted. Thus, the acidity seems the dominant characteristic. Most of the time, though, it seems that the wine is not actually out of balance, and I suspect that acidity is what helps the wine age as well as it does. I know it can go 25 years easily when from good vintage years, though I've never had the pleasure of one. Hopefully, I'll live long enough and/or keep my hands off them for mine to reach that point [img]http://wines.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

Coupled with the serving temp being too warm, that probably explains your experience.

[TheEngineer]

Many thanks DA! I've no experience with Beaucastel other than just a little taste here and there so appreciate the comments.

Nice little vertical mini vertical there. For whatever reason, I've been trying to do the same thing with recent vintages. I got a similar vertical of Beaucastel and one that goes a few year further back on Clos des Papes, Comte Armand Pommard from 99, Roumier Morey Saint Denis (not the pricey stuff) from 2000, and Heitz Martha's to 99. I'll try to fill in the back vintages when I can. I try not to do this to too many and hope I can afford it moving forward as some of these wines have seen major jumps in the last few years.....glad to have purchased the '05 Clos des Papes before WS annointed it king for the year.