Notes from a comparative tasting of Chateauneufs.

First up was a while with a starter of melon and pork belly:

2004 Dom. des Relagnes CNdoP – nice honeysuckle nose, quite a rich
entry, and soft and smooth with fairly low acidity.

Then with a very creative salade nicoise prepared using hard boiled
quail eggs and sushi grade ahi tuna very lightly seared on the outside
with a caper mayonnaise as well as the usual beans

Les Cailloux CNduP:

1993 – mature fairly light colour, a nose of old leather and fruit,
smooth on palate good acid, almost no tannin left. Elegant and
probably would have been better a couple of years ago. Drink up.

1994 – (I couldn’t find this bottle – until the following day, so had
to open it then to fill out the vertical) Similar in colour to the 93,
smooth and finishing with more acidity, but with food it worked. This
wine has peaked and drinks well now. The nose showed more
differentiation with some black olive tapenade in it!

(we started in on a couple of tarts – a tomato and marjoram tart and a
traditional ****aladiere (onions anchovies and black olives)

1995 – nice fruit in the nose, obviously younger than the earlier
wines. This one has hit plateau now, very pleasurable, not much in the
way of tannins left but will drink well for some years.

1995 Cuvee Centenaire – I thought it would be interesting to see how
this reserve bottling compared to the regular one. It sowed a riper
burnt sugar nose at first but later changed to accent vanilla and less
burnt character and to add a hint of mushroom. A much bigger presence
in the mouth than the regular cuvee and more tannin, it is still
fairly early days for this one and there is no rush.

1998 – spice and leather here, with a bit of tar and pepper. Medium
body, now drinking well. Very nice.

2000 – stinky sweetish nose with white pepper, quite dry in the mouth
with good length. Drinks well now.

We then shifted to a cassoulet with 3 vintages of Pegau Cuvee
Reservee.

1999 – lots of white pepper, blood and plums in this nose and it got
brettier with time (it is often the other way around).Slightly hot in
the mouth, it drinks well now. Heavier handed than the Cailloux.

2001 – hot ripe nose, and heat followed through in the mouth. Bricking
at the edge – looking older than the 99. I found it too ripe and hot
for my taste.

2004 – early days for this one, but nice to get to taste it early on.
Leathery beefy blood and lavender nose, with some saddle leather, lots
of tannin and in need of a few more years before the next tasting.