Four 2001 Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Tasted these nice Châteauneuf-du-Pape´s at a friends house a month ago. Ranging from good to great, none of them deserves, in my book, the lofty scores given by the one-and-only Mr Parker...

2001 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Clos des Papes
A deep, mature, fine nose with notes of autumn leaves, dry fudge, warm herbs and some dried flowers. Very nice, soft, gentle but with lots of character.
The taste is rounded and mature with a nice core of softened tannins and dried red fruit. A nice warmth in the finish, which is medium long. Some old tobacco. Very good.
This one was the only really mature wine of the four, but in a very good stage. I had it as my favourite.
92p   (tasted 2011/10)

2001 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Marie Beurrier, Henri Bonneau

A deep, earthy, fruity nose with notes of warm red fruit - rasberries and red currants, with licorice and rubbery notes. A touch modern in its fruityness. Good. The warmth is attractive.

The taste is more tight with a tough core of tannins and acidity, and the fruit really doesn´t match the tannins. The finish is long and dry. Becomes a little more aggreable with air, but the dryness will always be there. Good though, and went well with the food.

85p   (tasted 2011/10)

2001 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de Mon Aieul, Pierre Usseglio

A fine, cool, elegant nose with lots of assorted herbs, violets, dry leather and forest smoke. Very good and elegant. A bit meaty after a while.

The taste is also cool and elegant with a touch of maturity and very good sweet red fruit - mostly red currants and rasberries. A very fine structure. A long and elegant finish. Very, very nice.

91p   (tasted 2011/10)

2001 Châteaneuf-du-Pape Les Quartz, Domaine de Caillou

A big, dark, earthy nose with notes of iron/blood, old tobacco and leather, and dried red fruit. This is not elegant a bit, rather the opposite. Almost brutal. Very young. Somewhat foursquare. Opens up a bit in the glas.

The taste is big and steady with very fresh, chewy tannins and lots of sweet fruit to match them. Very, very long. A lot of tannins in the finish. This has potential, but is very, very young now.

89p   (tasted 2011/10)

We also tasted 2001 Clarendon Hills Blewitt Springs Vineyard, that was really good but very sweet. It also felt rather young but the question is if its going to get better with age? (88p) The 2011 Clarendon Hills Kangarilla Vineyard was on the other hand a complete mess, with an overdose of toothpaste, sage and eucalyptus on the nose and cherries in licquer, sweet licorice and lots of alcohol in the taste (65p)