Vieux Télégraphe 'La Crau' Chateauneuf-du-Pape

 How do you photograph a label with writing around almost half the bottle? I tried something a little different. Not very professional, but quite psychedelic, don't you think?

 

The 2010 Vieux Télégraphe 'La Crau' is already quite developed. The colour is a blend of purple, brown, and orange.

This full-bodied wine still has primary fruit tasting of raspberry and plum. As always, savoury characteristics are strong in this wine, with earthy notes and spice adding complexity on the palate. The structure of this wine is still quite balanced, but it feels like it may not hold together that much longer. The tannins are firm and grainy, and the wine finishes long.

I recommend to drink this wine now.

Score: 93/++

A Range of Rhône

Rhône wines should really attract more interest in Australia, given the strong showing of Shiraz and Grenache in this country. Comparisons are interesting for many reasons; Grenache on its own is virtually not bottled in France, and the Shiraz styles vary in different Northern Rhône subregions. In a recent tasting, I could look at four quite different wines from the Rhône.

The 2014 Pierre Gaillard Clos de Cuminaille from St. Joseph has a fascinating flavour profile. This is a light and fresh wine, with red fruits, earth, leather, spice and herbs creating a lifted blend, almost like a Pinot Noir. It has length, too. The only disappointment after such a nice taste is the lack of tannins (94 points).

Quite different was the second wine, a 2016 Domaine Santa Duc Habemus Papam Chateauneuf-du-Pape. This is a much bigger wine with dark fruits on the palate and a lush texture. The tannins are firm, and the slightly confected finish gives the Grenache component, otherwise not so obvious, away (93 points).

The third wine was from Cornas, a 2009 Matthieu Barret Domaine du Coulet Billes Rotres. This was a dark fruited wine, 100% Shiraz. There was a lot of pepper on the nose and palate, lavender and sweet honey notes made for an intriguing taste. Overall, this wine was very intense and I thought it was slightly hot, although the quoted alcohol was not especially high (92 points). 

The final wine was the 2015 Bernard Faurie Hermitage (white cap). This is a rare wine, made in small volumes from arguably the best subregion, Hermitage, and a blend of two vineyards. This is quite a delicate wine at this stage whose complexity will only unfold over time.  Violets and delicate raspberry flavours show upfront, but one can detect licorice and meaty notes underneath. Finesse is the dominant theme (95 points).

Four Rhône wines, four completely different expressions. There is a lot of complexity in this long region. This tasting suggests it is worth unpacking. 

Chateau St Cosme

The last tasting in France was rushed. Both the wine company and I were running out of time. This was a pity as Chateau St Cosme is well known in Australia and the US. It does the opposite to Guigal and Chapoutier. They own vineyards in the Northern Rhone and act as negotiants for Southern Rhone wine. St Cosme owns vineyards in the Southern Rhone and buys in grapes from the North.

I will report on two wines here. The 2013 Cote-Rotie is matured to 80% in new oak. This is a perfumed, quite elegant wine, with smoky and slate notes, coming from grapes from the steep slopes of the Rhone. This Shiraz is quite high in alcohol and slightly hot on the finish (90 points). The 2013 Gigondas, in contrast, comes from owned vineyards near the winery. It is a typical GSM and the juice sees no new oak. The fruit is fresh, with Grenache raspberry flavours dominant. The wine is very ripe and the meaty flavours would not be to everybody's taste (90 points).

St Cosme wines are clearly fashioned in the new world style. More oak, from long burnt barrells, ripe berries and high alcohol. These wines can deliver instant gratification, but lack the finess of the just reviewed Vieux Telegraphe.

Au revoir La France! It was fantastic.

Vieux Telegraphe

The famous plateau La Crau, Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Daniel Brunier,co-owner, and the wines tasted

A remarkable tasting was my second last in France, at Vieux Telegraphe. At first, Daniel Brunier took me on a tour across the vineyards of La Crau. This plateau, on the east side of Chateauneuf-du-Pape, is covered in large rocks.  The clay soil starts a couple of meters below the surface. As a result, the waterholding capacity is good, but the roots have to go deep. They pick up many nutrients along the way.

The philosophy of the winery is to deliver finesse to the wines. This is more important than fruit. Only old oak is used, and grapes are often not destemmed.

The first wine I tasted was the 2014 Megaphone. This is a new wine from Ventoux. The grapes, 70% Grenache, 30% Shiraz, are quite young. Still, the wine is not overly fruit forward, but quite restrained (90 points). Then came the 2012 Les Pallieres, Les Racines from Gigondas. This 62 acre vineyard sits in the lower part of an amphitheatre. It is 80% Grenache, with 30% stems. The wine is a bit austere, with minerality flavours a key feature, before finishing on firm tannins (90 points). 

The next red was the first from Chateauneuf-du-Pape, the 2012 Telegramme. This 60% Grenache based wine is pretty. It is fresh and elegant, with quite a soft mouthfeel (92 points).  Then it gets more complex with the 2011 Piedlong. This wine is based on 90% Grenache and 10% Mourvedre. 50% of the grapes are not destemmed. Flavours are sour cherry, and there are salty notes as well. The palate is firm, yet elegant, with quite a unique profile (93 points).

Then we compared two Vieux Telegraphe. The current one is from 2012. It is a GSM blend, with 65% Grenache. The vines are 70 years old on average. 30% of the grapes are not destemmed. This is a wine of intense fruit flavours, yet elegant and with great balance (95 points). The 2001 comes from a comparable vintage. It is still fresh, has again a bit of the saltiness on the palate, with silky tannins and a lift on the finish (96 points).

What I admired about these wines is the common philosophy that was expressed in them. Here was not a series of individual wines, but a thread that cut across them. Beautiful balance, finesse, clearly a great ability to age. I fell in love with this wine style.      

Chateauneuf-du-Pape

The final stop of my wonderful tour de France. It will be a brief one, unfortunately. At one of the caves I had a brief introduction to these Grenache based blended wines. There is a distinction between modernists and traditionalists, maybe like in Barolo. The modernists emphesize fruit flavours, maybe boldness, the traditionalists finesse and minerality. I did not learn which differences in the winemaking process drives this distinction, but I guess maceration time and oak treatment would be major factors. These were the four wines I tasted

- 2013 Domaine de Gireau: red and black cherry, simple fruit flavours (87 points).

- 2012 Domaine Pierre Usseglio: GSM, 12 months in oak, a darker wine, well structured, firm tannins (91 points).

- 2012 Domaine du Pegau: a well respected traditionalist. This Chateuneuf-du-Pape tasted of spice and leather. What a contrast to the last two wines. Tannins are strong. If you like to smoke cigars, you will like this wine (93 points).

- 2012 Domaine de la Charbonniere, Les Hautes Brusquieres: a single vineyard blend of 80% Grenache and 18% Shiraz. Complex flavours, strawberry and plum, but also marmelaide, figs and earthy components. I liked this wine but for its alcoholic finish (15.5%). This is a problem with Grenache. It needs to ripen, and then the alcohol shoots right up (94 points).

Domaine Pierre Usseglio Chateauneuf Du Pape

Chateauneuf-du-Pape is such an attractive wine style when it is well executed: probably the most seductive, yet serious wine we know. The 2006 Domaine Pierre Usseglio Chateauneuf-du-Pape fits this category.

The colour is dark, showing signs of mellowing. There is a full spectrum of berries on the palate: raspberries, blackberries and other wild forest berries: quite complex. The secondary flavours are coming through as well, with mushroom and forest floor. They are in perfect balance with the primary fruit. The earthy characters become dominant on the back palate, in an elegant, almost aristocratic style. The oak supports and the tannins are quite soft. This wine is about fruit flavours maturing in a harmoneous fashion.

Score: 95/+++