I know this sounds like a film title ("Educating Rita" or some 'nother
drivel), but inquiring minds want to know whether these can be cellared
and appreciated with age on them. Case at hand: yesterday, I opened a Dom.
Soumade 'cuvee Confiance' 1999. I first had this in 2002 and it was as you
would expect, full of primary black fruits and big in a New World way. I
thought it had the stuffing to continue 5-8 years no problem but then the
bottle last night found the fruit fading, alcohol predominant, without any
secondary transformations going on. I'm wondering if this will survive
'the Cellar test'? Luckilly I only have 1 more bottle to donate to
science, but it makes me wonder: this is pretty much the same blend
(grenache, syrah, mourvedre) that goes into Chateauneuf-du-Pape and
Gigondas, so how come they can age much more gracefully than Rasteau? Or
does fault lie with the producer?

Mark S

--

We're talking CdRV Rasteau, not the fortified stuff, right? I don't have any
experience with this particular wine. But I do wonder whether this could just
be a sign of shutting down- a phenomenon pretty characteristic of CdP. I try to
drink most CdP from good vintages very young (4 or less years from cintage) or
more than 10. YMMV.
best,
Dale

Dale Williams
Drop "damnspam" to reply

On 12 Jul 2004 12:22:40 -0500, > said:

] I know this sounds like a film title ("Educating Rita" or some 'nother=20
] drivel), but inquiring minds want to know whether these can be cellared=20
] and appreciated with age on them. Case at hand: yesterday, I opened a Dom=
..=20
] Soumade 'cuvee Confiance' 1999. I first had this in 2002 and it was as yo=
u=20
] would expect, full of primary black fruits and big in a New World way. I=
=20
] thought it had the stuffing to continue 5-8 years no problem but then the=
=20
] bottle last night found the fruit fading, alcohol predominant, without an=
y=20
] secondary transformations going on. I'm wondering if this will survive=20
] 'the Cellar test'? Luckilly I only have 1 more bottle to donate to=20
] science, but it makes me wonder: this is pretty much the same blend=20
] (grenache, syrah, mourvedre) that goes into Chateauneuf-du-Pape and=20
] Gigondas, so how come they can age much more gracefully than Rasteau? Or=
=20
] does fault lie with the producer?
]=20
] Mark S=20
]=20

Hi Mark,

Haven't had much time for the group recently, but I'll delurk for this one.=
...

Confiance is one of the "middle" cuv=E9es offered by Andre Romero, the owner
and winemaker at La Soumade. In ascending order they are Cotes du Rhone
Rasteau, Cuv=E9e Prestige, Cuv=E9e Confiance and Fleur de Confiance. This =
latter
has been greatly criticized in the region for pricing, I believe it's near =
40 =A4.
Further, Romero makes a couple of vins de pays, and of course what is=20
widely viewed as the finest Rasteau VDN rouge. He also makes a d'or=E9 VDN,
which I find a bit lacking in character.

Romero is often criticized for his pricing, and held up as an example of=20
someone "ruined" by Parker -- as indeed prior to his "discovery" he was
very reasonably priced -- having publicized him, and bleeding the market
for all it's worth. (Some would argue this is perfectly legitimate of cour=
se,
but all of Romero's faithful clients were pretty POed.)

IIRC the difference between "confiance" and "prestige" is the amount of
syrah in the mix, the former often approaching a 50/50 split with grenache.
I don't recall being told of large amounts of Mourvedre being used in=20
any of the blends, but you may have more recent information than I.
Both of these wines were made from vines at over 80 years of age in
the day, but these may go into the "fleur" now.

Generally Rasteau produces big, deep, hot, generous wines with lots of=20
jammy fruit as appreciated by RP. (Interesting aside: just ran across
a copy of RP's '87 guide to the Rhone while browsing through boxes.
In Rasteau he mentions _only_ the coop as being of "excellent quality!"
It is a good coop, but far from the best in the village, even back then.)
They are best appreciated young or after 10 or more years. They do,
as Dale suggests, tend to shut down somewhat, but not as much as
a Chateauneuf IMHO. But they are worth holding; as the tannins resolve
they turn into some of the very best from the southern Rhone. Not light
praise that!

La Soumade is certainly a star of the appellation, and typically very agewo=
rthy.
That said, vintages differ, and I didn't taste any of the '99, so it may ju=
st
be that this _particular_ confiance won't age well. Time will tell,
please report back in 2010! Anyway it is inaccurate to say that
Rasteau doesn't age "gracefully."

BTW, I see you are posting from a Sun 4! What a dinosaur, that's the
VME card cage thing, probably about 10 MHz, right? I think I used
one of these long, long ago... SunOS 5.8 seems to remind me of a
_text only_ embedded unix.

cheers,

-E

--=20
Emery Davis
You can reply to
by removing the well known companies

Emery Davis > wrote:
: On 12 Jul 2004 12:22:40 -0500, > said:


: Generally Rasteau produces big, deep, hot, generous wines with lots of
: jammy fruit as appreciated by RP. (Interesting aside: just ran across
: a copy of RP's '87 guide to the Rhone while browsing through boxes.
: In Rasteau he mentions _only_ the coop as being of "excellent quality!"
: It is a good coop, but far from the best in the village, even back then.)
: They are best appreciated young or after 10 or more years. They do,
: as Dale suggests, tend to shut down somewhat, but not as much as
: a Chateauneuf IMHO.

Emery (and Dale), this could be and I'm going to let that last bottle sit
for awhile longer. There was just such a difference between 2 years that I
was afraid that, like many an RP-loved wine, the alcohol would dominate a
thin frame of a wine. I bought this on closeout for $19, so I don't feel
Too bad.

But they are worth holding; as the tannins resolve
: they turn into some of the very best from the southern Rhone. Not light
: praise that!

: La Soumade is certainly a star of the appellation, and typically very ageworthy.
: That said, vintages differ, and I didn't taste any of the '99, so it may just
: be that this _particular_ confiance won't age well. Time will tell,
: please report back in 2010! Anyway it is inaccurate to say that
: Rasteau doesn't age "gracefully."

Will do, but probably more like 3-4 years. I'd tasted 'dumb' CDP's before.
They were closed, but you could tell there was stuffing there. This
Soumade I worried about since I couldn't detect fruit or tannin (but this
could be the grenache component, since I rarely find grenache to be tannic
in the same way other reds can be).

: BTW, I see you are posting from a Sun 4! What a dinosaur, that's the
: VME card cage thing, probably about 10 MHz, right? I think I used
: one of these long, long ago... SunOS 5.8 seems to remind me of a
: _text only_ embedded unix.


You know, I'm not sure, since that's the server that the university runs
UNIX on, and I *know* they are not upgrading or putting resources into
this, so, yes, it Could be that old!


Thanks for the responses!

Mark S (and Emery, you need to 'delurk' some more! Miss your excellent
posting)