Lee Pitofsky

9.4

Great vintage for the La La’s. But it’s not ready. The nose is stunning, captivatingly aromatic after a few hours in the decanter, layered with Northern Rhône classicism of blackberry, camphor and bacon fat. The palate is massively concentrated but oaky and stiff. Needs more time to integrate but all the pieces are there! — 8 days ago

Ruben Cirugeda

9.0

Dry red.
Has depth… I enjoyed. — 5 months ago

Ron Siegel

9.4

Another great btl of this vintage consistent with my prior notes showing clean & pure aromas of dark cherry, raspberry, smoked meat, bacon fat with savory spice, graphite, pepper, olive & violet — 5 months ago

John Schlechter

9.6

Amazing wine especially with food cuts right through any fat, sexy, tannins long finish bright fruit, light and traditional not bad for 48 years old at the drinking time  — a year ago

Lee Pitofsky

9.4

Love these wines. 2015 is excellent tonight after sufficient air, densely concentrated and a clear child of the solar 2015 vintage, wafting layers of dark fruit, olive tapenade, camphor, bacon fat and black truffle. The palate shows exceptional balance and detail despite the massive concentration and warm vintage with great acidity, melting tannins and superb length. Beautiful wine, but very young. — a month ago

Scott@Mister A’s-San Diego

9.4

2016 vintage. From Coravin. Medium body. Phenomenal smoky, mineral nose. Almost all traces of the baby fat gone. Transitioning from the teen years into young adulthood but still visiting the parents to do laundry on occasion. Tannins picking up and slowly becoming more pronounced. Need to taste this again in a year or two. Very promising. 5.9.24. — 5 months ago

Shay A

9.6

A bottle I contributed during a trip to Napa’s Premiere Napa Valley week. This was opened at Torc, alongside a ‘97 Leflaive Les Pucelles, ‘11 Leroy Blagny, ‘89 La Chappelle and two young Napa cabs from Simon Estate. La Mouline is always my favorite due to the amount of co-ferment with Viognier.

Deserving of a 1-2hr decant, this got about an hour open in bottle by the time we got to it. I opened the ‘04 La Turque just a few weeks prior, so I had a reference point to work with. Heady aromatics, as expected…dark potpurri, spice, mesquite and mocha. On the palate, the youthful bacon-fat of Cote Rotie was gone and had channeled the classical tangy barbecue profile alongside black olive, peppered red and black berry fruit, and smoked meat at the finish. Whereas the LaTurque was almost Burgundian in profile (elegant, light), this was somewhere in-between the “bigger” LaLandonne and LaTurque…big, but balanced, likely due to vintage. Aromatics and finish here were standouts. Open now with a quick decant or hold another few years. — 7 months ago

Doug Powers

9.0

Found a box of this the other day in the cellar, the original Jaboulet box was damaged and so I’d moved it to a non-Jaboulet box 7-8 years ago. Further, this was the only bottle showing any real ullage (about 1.5”), so opened it first (I do have more, and will report when I open the next bottle).

Color is medium-dark ruby, some bacon fat and meaty aromas, lovely fruit still, structured has softened, long finish, but I’m sure a pristine bottle will show even better!! — 2 months ago

with Jim

Tom Garland

9.5

+1 hour decant. A marvelous dark garnet color. On the nose: expressive notes of red and dark berries, smoked meat, some Cayuse funk(luv it), woody, dusty minerals. Taste: soft, silky, intense, layered wine with red berries, roasted plum, gamey, saline, bacon fat, and a metallic/iron/mineral medium plus finish. YUM!! — 5 months ago

Jay Kline

9.3

I’ve often struggled to appreciate Beaucastel, particularly when young. However, the more often I drink older Beaucastel, I find myself slowly starting to understand why these wines are so important.

Opened about two hours prior. The 2001 Beaucastel pours a pale, slightly hazy garnet with a watery rim. Medium+ viscosity with signs of fine sediment. On the nose, the wine is vinous. Strawberry preserves, leather, bacon fat, and some chicory. On the palate, medium tannin, medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is long. Is this the most powerful expression of Chateauneuf du Pape? No. But it’s balanced, complex and it makes me think and I like that.

As a sort of epilogue, I was able to enjoy this bottle with someone who drinks old Beaucastel more regularly than I do. He described this bottle as being one that is in-between plentitudes; which makes sense as some of the tertiary characteristics are beginning to show themselves. Subsequently, you can drink now but this will likely enter a new dimension in the next few years. — 9 months ago