Chateau Pesquie Quintessence Cote du Ventoux 1999

[Thraz]

$15 in 2002, 14% alcohol. I have slowly been going through a case of this for a couple of years. It has always been very nice but not quite ready - tonight's bottle seems like this wine is now in prime drinking shape. Still somewhat tannic so it should keep for a while longer, but great now. Great nose with black fruit, maybe cherry. Plenty of spice, and yet a very smooth feel - I don't know if that's what they call "silky." Long finish. I really like it. I seem to remember it's 60% grenache and 40% syrah. I have bought a bottle of each of the 2000 and the 2001 to taste, but have not done it yet. 1999 was the last year where they used a Bordeaux-style bottle with a cool label, now it's all Rhone style bottles.

[Thraz]

Second half of the bottle tonight (I know it's been three days, but I now swear by the IK method of a half bottle and a good stopper, which makes three days an easy ride).

Still excellent, with an added bonus: what I thought was black cherry developed into intense red cherry. This tells me I should have decanted it the first night, I will keep that in mind for the next bottles. Great wine. I will have to taste the new vintages soon before they disappear from the shelves.

[Innkeeper]

Glad it work out for the best.