2000 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée- France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (1/3/2020)
2000 Pegau continues a wandering journey that exposes different aspects depending on which bottle I open. This bottle was not ready to go when I opened it (unlike my last two years ago), but over the course of three hours it blossomed into a perfumed yet still fruity gem that hinted of greater pleasures to come. Starting out tight, and focused on crunchy red fruit, the leathery, herbal, and earthy elements took nearly two hours to come out. The last glass, consumed at the three hour mark, had everything together, and made me regret not decanting. No need to hurry with this. It has a long road ahead.
The 1998 Pegau Reservee was among the top 3 by our group during a CdP dinner back in November last year. We had a mixed bag of mostly Pegau, Beaucastel, Clos des Papes and Rayas-Pignan from 1990 to 2006.
Others in the top 3 were the 1999 Beaucastel Hommage and the 1990 Clos des Papes.
I had a 2000 Dom. de la Vieille Julienne a month ago that showed very well. I wasn’t following CdP that much twenty years ago, but am I right that the vintage wasn’t very well regarded at the time?
It was reasonably well regarded, but mostly as a drink soon because it’s so fun now year. 1998 and 2001 have been the “old bones” years in the lovely 1998-2001 quartet.
I had two cases of 2000 Pegau Reservee in the olden days (back when my original WineBerserker moniker still worked), and I would agree that it never measured up to the 1998 or 2001, but it was pretty dad-burned good at the time. However, most of my bottles turned south (oxidation) some years ago. Cannot blame this on importing (imported by the lady who imported Pegau out of Marin County, forgot her name), or on my own cellar (plus or minus 1C for 10-15 years), so it must have had something to do with the treatment in the store hear in the Northern California East Bay. But then, Grenache is well known to be on the fragile side, so the oxidation might make sense.
I had a bottle of the 2000 Pegau tonight and it was slightly off, a touch bretty. With decanting it mostly blew off and showed a bloody, barny nose with decent fruit underneath. Great mature coloration. I liked it better when younger, maybe 5-10 years ago. I agree that it was not in the same league as 98 or 01. I also think the 99 ended up being much better than I realized upon release. I’d thought those were more in the guzzle up category and consumed them all by age 10 or so, but they were really so balanced.
For my tastes, and my stash, it’s time to finish them up. I’d give this bottle a B, disappointing in the context of what it has been, or can be.
I never heated them. They were a direct import from Martine’s Wine (in Marin County) to a store in Pleasanton. I suppose the store could have roasted them, but I don’t think they were there too long. If nobody else was having this problem, then maybe that implicates the store??
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