Père Anselme Châteauneuf-du-Pape "La Fiole"

[Thraz]

This was received as a present but available for $28-30.

It is an NV, so even though I only got it recently I decided not to wait - perhaps it is a misconception, but if there is no vintage I feel it will not age well. Also I don't feel like tracking drinking windows for things that do not have a benchmark on them.

This was pleasant. Not too much nose, but plenty of red fruit on the palate, medium finish, light to medium body. I think it is actually meant to be drunk on release, I did not feel it had a lot of backbone or heavy structure.

Pleasant, but it is priced at the level of many other CDPs that, unlike this one, have personality. I tried not to be influenced by my negative bias due to the NV thing and the cheesy bottle, but I would not buy it.

It is a very distinctive bottle, with a shape that is apparently modeled on that of the actual Rhône river (that came up in another thread), and with fake dust on it. The dust stuck on to my fingers at every pour - not great.