Given the very high ratings from almost every professional wine critic I was looking forward to tasting this wine like a kid on Christmas morning.
This highly reputed Chateauneuf du Pape was made at the renowned Clos des Papes estate and thus by the hands of the legendary Avril family who literally helped putting the appellation on the map. As if that wasn’t enticing enough, the vintage 2007 is practically unrivalled and perhaps only eclipsed by the mythical harvest of 1978.
This wine looks incredibly dense and concentrated in the glass, it’s a dark cherry red with just a smidgen of purple left in the edge. It has fat, intensely colored legs with droplets that ooze down the side of the glass at a seemingly glacial pace.
The aromas that rise from the surface are similarly compact and powerful, it’s a great mixture of sweet ripe fruit (red cherry and black berries), tons
of spices (pepper, cloves, garrigue) competing with lots of more evolved meaty, leathery and smokey smells. The heat and more evolved scents are counterbalanced by a minty freshness, a great combination.
In the mouth it is the same massive, abundant and lush wine, incredibly concentrated and with a finish that lasts well beyond the point where I run out of breath counting the seconds. It’s alcoholic and has a slight bitterness in the end, but it’s also so supple and sweet and surprisingly accessible thanks to the tannins that have molten down to having the softness of marshmallows.
If you are looking for finesse, this definitely isn’t your cup of tea,but if you can appreciate this behemoth of a wine that magnificently reflects the hot terroir where its creation took place, this really is the
wine for you.
Dc
