NOSE: cigar wrapper; heavy garrigué; dark-fruited; not oaky; “classic” CdP.
BODY: medium-light to medium bodied.
TASTE: lots of garrigué, and perhaps a hint of brett, but this is not a Pegau brett-bomb; fairly open and loose-knit; not tannic; not a big, gloppy bruiser; easy to drink; a much-needed reminder of why I used to love CdP, and a glimmer of hope that CdP like this is still being made. Drink now and over the next 10 years. Gut impression score: low 90s.
Agree, this is a very nice wine, already accessable and reminding me a bit on the 2004 CR, very Burgundian in texture, will doubtless improve with time in the bottle, certainly no blockbuster, but very enjoyable at least until 2030+
NOSE: smokey/char; reduced; some background garrigue.
BODY: medium to medium-full bodied; very little sediment.
TASTE: strong garrigue, with some brett (light to medium, depending on tolerance level); on the lighter side for Pegau, and certainly for CdP; my previous bottle from a year previous was better on account of less brett. Nonetheless, a nice, approachable, “classic” CdP, and a worthy purchase at the $40 I paid. Drink by 2030.
commercial post: I import Pegau to most of the U.S.
2014 is developing well. It is in a long line of excellent, mid-weight vintages that never get great press but offer incredibly warm, friendly drinking at 6 - 15 years of age; well-cellared, vintages like this should live happily to 25+ years.
In the same general style:
1994
1999
2004
2006
2011
To get an idea of what these wines can offer for mid-term drinking, please try a 2011 (or if you can get it, 2006) now. While the 2014 offers pleasure today, just a few more years will see secondary magic start to appear. I am about to make our annual ‘old & rare’ offering to the trade and both 2014 and 2011 are available (as are 2012, which is a massive vintage in need of time, and 2013, an outlier, lighter, livelier vintage).
I don’t just sell Pegau. I drink a lot of it, share a lot of it with friends and donate a lot to charity.
I know the absurdity of what I’m about to say, given the person to whom I am responding. I disagree about '04; I think it’s a good couple notches gutsier than the '14, and consider it to be noticeably better. Of the 10 or so Pegau vintages I’ve tasted (so, not that many) '04 might be my favorite (in competition with the wildly different '00). Wish I had more '04s, but am not really looking to replace it on account of us having more CdP in inventory than I’d prefer — need to drink what we have.
Up to this year, I have always found the 06s somewhat bigger than these other vintages. In the past couple of months, I have been trying numbers of 06 CdPs (Pegau, Charvin, Ferrand, Marcoux, for example). For some reason, they all seem to have entered a late closed period. A lot of aeration opens them up again, but betware. I think they’ll come out of it fine, but there is a turn to more earth and licorice going on, particularly in Pegau and Charvin. I have never experienced this late closed period in the other vintages Dan lists. 1994, 1999 and 2004 have long been favorites. And I agree with him about 2011. I would also add the 08s of at least Pegau, Charvin and Ferrand (although I know Dan does not feel this way about the Pegau 08).
I have opened and happily drunk 4 bottles of the delightfully drinkable 2006 Domaine de la Mordoree CdP RdB in the last 4 months. A short 30 minute decant opens this wine beautifully and I have seen no evidence of it closing down.
I would be more surprised if all wines reacted exactly the same than if they did not. I was surprised that all the wines I tried seened to have closed down slightly. I usually find more variance. Glad to see there is some.
Interesting to hear that about '06. It’s a vintage of which I no longer own any bottles, but for approx. half a case of Boislauzon. I enjoyed many '06s young, and generally didn’t see it being a long-lived vintage.
I had the '14 at the domaine last year and loved it. I bought a few bottles. To my palate, the '14 and '99 are very similar in style. I doubt the '14 will shut down and will easily drink well for 10 years from vintage. FWIW, the '99 was one of my favorite wines from Pegau.
Veerrrryyy interesting comments on the 14 being similar to the 04. Looking at my notes, the only vintages I’ve had are 04, 12, 14 and 15. The 04 blew my socks off a year or two ago - it was seriously an amazing bottle of wine that night. I have some more 14 in the cellar which excites me mid to long-term.
Sorry to be a wet blanket on the excitement here, but I’ve had drastically different experiences with '14 and '04 from reportss here; if you have multiple bottles of '14, and have not yet tried one, now’s the time.
Dan - correct me if I’m mistaken, but my recollection is you didn’t think too highly of 2012. Do you think it just needs a lot of time given the “massive vintage”? Does massive mean volume of wine produced or intensity of the wine? Thank you.
Just to reaffirm my point that not all wines of a vintage are the same, I opened an 06 Eddie Feraud last night and it was open for business and doing just fine.
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