Two Chateauneufs with a Restaurant (!) Dinner.

  • 2009 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (6/16/2021)
    An excellent bottle of wine. At Bobby Van’s 54th Street with two senior bank officers for an emerge from COVID steak dinner. Pop, decant and pour because we chose to drink this one before the 2003 Mordoree. It needed air, and after a first sip, I told the others to swirl vigorously and hold off for a few minutes. Worth the wait. Still not at its peak but it’s getting there. Berry flavors with a real strong spicy roasted backbone that gave the wine extra depth and complexity, but very smooth and easy to drink. Started drinking this with the thick cut apple wood smoked bacon appetizer and it went very well together. You can wait on this but if you have multiple bottles, I suggest that you open one now and give it a 2 hour decant. (94 pts.)
  • 2003 Domaine de la Mordorée Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de la Reine des Bois - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (6/16/2021)
    Drank after the '09 Pegau Reserve at a restaurant steak dinner. Decanted and then sat for about an hour while we drank the other wine first. I was nervous about this wine because '03 was such a hot year and the 03 La Combe de Fous that I had 2 years ago was (a) a hot mess of stewed prunes and (b) the only Cambie wine I have not liked. However, no such issues. I think there was more fruit in this than in the Pegau, but that may have been a function of the air. Nice and smooth with a bit of spice in the back ground. I thought it was classic Grenache Raspberry. I asked one of my guests what fruit he tasted without suggesting anything and he said blackberry, with some currant. This is delicious and not yet on the downhill. (93 pts.)

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Sounds tasty, Jay. What’s up with the knife on the decanter?

My guess is that he was expecting a lot of brett from the Pegau, and had a poop knife at the ready.

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Mordorèe was not a Cambie wine, though I understand seeing it as in his style. Cambie goes for overextraction as Mordorèe does, but he isn’t as fond of new oak. I was never a fan of Delorme’s wines, but, for better or worse, he made the wines he wanted to make. They may never have been to my taste, but they did have their own character.

He sabered the bottles.

We had an inexperienced server at a restaurant years ago decant two different vintages of the same wine into one decanter. Maybe that’s Jay’s, “Don’t touch” signal. Post-sabering, of course.

I was just being silly when one of my guests wanted a photo and I decided it was better for the overall composition.

I was worried about the poop flavor, which I hate and which would not have done well with my guests, but there was ZERO noticeable brett, poop, fecal notes or whatever you want to call it.

No sushi?