1998 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée- France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (12/4/2020)
Has to be one of the better bottles I’ve had this year. This must have been a bruiser when it was young. Stood up for about a week. Drank over two days. Nice brick red color. Significant Brett poopy nose that blew off the second day. A lot of power still left in this wine. Fruit and acidity nicely woven together. Bing cherry flavors with a hint of black raspberry. Very long persistent finish with just a touch of hotness. I have another bottle somewhere in the basement. (95 pts.)
If you stored these well, this wine should be in the perfect slot. There was lots of brett in that vintage in these wines. This sounds like a really good one.
I don’t think they are immune to vintage variation, rather any more immune than others. Compared to much larger productions that produce 8 - 9x the output, yeah, better batting average I’d wager. Among their peers,I’d not think its really material.
The later question, that’s a different ball game. There’s a lot of elements that go into development. Once the wine leaves, its all on what happens to it and few things are equal. Someone could keep a bottle in their bar pantry that averages 73 degrees. Someone else can keep it in their cellar under pristine conditions. That’s the extremes, then go in between, then factor in that no one’s palates are identical. Its kind of an improbably proposition. Just look at notes on CT that fall within days of each other for the same vintage, sometimes wildly different experiences. Often just different. Consistent is a misdirection there. Will it grow to be more than it was on day 1, that’s maybe the better question. Better is probably not even the right term, will it be more interesting. Pegau will if kept right.
I’d search on bottle variation, just read experiences and views of others. Its interesting.
Interesting and helpful. I have been drinking Pegau Reserve for the past 20 years (since 1998) and find them remarkably consistent and almost formulated (up until the 2016 vintage which appeared a little “cleaned up”). When I say “formulated”—this is a double edge sword. My view is that this is in many ways like Napa Cabs—very little vintage variation year after year. Anyway, good wines, very fun to drink, and always consistent.
Oh and one more follow up…that 2016 has thrown me sideways. It really did taste different, cleaned up, nothing to do with vintage but in my view something that was done in the “house”. It will be interesting to see what that looks like in 10 years.
1998 is the first Pegau I’ve bought. 3 bottles of the Reservee and 2 bottles of the Cuvee Laurence. There were plenty of Pegau talks in wine boards and I remember, but not the exact details, questions about which “version” did holders have.
Pegaus style changed pretty dramatically to my tastes after the 2001 (or maybe 02, but that was sort of a lost vintage in CdP) vintage from from clearly classic to leaning modern. Went from one of my my favorite to not so excited
Haven’t felt that way at all. 2004, 2006, 2008 all taste like classic Pegau to me. There’s some crazy ripe vintages in the mix that may skew the wine, but they skewed everything.
I love this wine - have still 7 out of 14 left, and 5 CL.
Cannot see anything modern in newer vintages, 2008 and 2011 drinking beautifully now. Pegau is strong even in minor vintages imho due to traditional winemaking.
The whites got cleaner - and better.
I’ve had few wines I’ve disliked more than those. I couldn’t wait to unload mine on others who liked those vintages. They might have soured me on Pegau altogether. I’m down to sixteen bottles total, when these used to be a major part of my cellar. I still have mostly '98, '01, '04, and '10.