IMHO, these nuked and oaked 07 CDPs are quite similar to the hyper-modern St Emilions that became so prounounced in vintages like 2003 and 2005. As Adrian notes, the luciousness of the fruit right on release, and apprarenly to the critics during barrel tastings, was a little captivating and either masked or “balanced” the other extreme attributes. Some wines still showed messy, though. But once some of that baby fat receded, what you had left is alcohol and wood. Like CDP, I have literally dumped every single St. Em. I bought from these vintages and have pretty much stopped buying any but a handful of classics. Sadly, even classics like Figeac and Conseillante have recently hired the modernist consultant - is post-modernism more of an apt descriptor, akin to the architecture of Michael Graves with its overdone cosmestics(?) - hoping to capture the elevated interest of the critics. Sad.
This is a good wine. > It has red fruit and also some acid. I know plenty of Chateauneuf that don’t have acid. This one has acid. > It’s great. > (83 pts.)
I can only imagine Adrian’s facial expressions during this tasting. Thankfully, I have culled my cellar down to only Beaucastel, VT and Pegau from this vintage.
I went to a trade tasting with Michel Abood in Paris - we happened to be there at the same time - when the 2007 CdPs were just being released. All of them were there, the big names and the small. I hated them all.
I haven’t tasted a single one since then, and these notes make me think I never will. Adrian and I don’t agree on everything, but I’m pretty sure we’re in line here. And I love the parody.
Clos Mt. Olivet is a Cambie wine. The base cuvee generally doesn’t show it much, but in 07 it would come through. I’m not familiar with Mas de Boislauzon, but I have heard it tends toward the traditional.
A lot of 07s, like a lot of 03s had exaggerated concentration and sweetness. They had more tannin and acid than the 03s, but they were oddly integrated. Even the best of them tasted disjointed to me a few years ago. Some of the traditional ones, Pegau and Charvin, are doing much better now. As with the 03s, those who did not like them young will never like them with age (wines aren’t like Hans Christian Andersen’s ugly duckling; they mature, but they don’t turn into swans), but some of them are good versions of the vintage. It hardly surprises me, though, that most of the wines on this list are not.
C’mon, man! Are we really surprised? Parker has been recommending horrid wines from warm vintages for many, many years now: 97 Piedmonte; 98-2001 Barossa Shiraz; 03 Bordeaux; 07 CNdP. He tastes alcohol, roasted fruit and wood. And if he tastes more of it, then the wine must be better. Structure, nuance, acidity and freshness – which are things I look for in wine – are nearly lost in his review.
Otherwise, how does anyone explain the fascination with these hot year, hot messes? It has taken a few of us many years and a lot of money to figure that out.
Adrian is a fantastic man. A really great man, just fantastic. His face reactions told me a story of someone who wasn’t happy with how these wines were. Sad, just very very sad.
Laughable smear campaign notes lacking any substance across the board. I love the Trump comparison. It’s like the Trump v Streep tweets.
Clearly the most overrated vintage in Southern Rhones. Just terrible. Not luxurious at all. So sad. Really just losers whose mothers wouldn’t even love them. Really terrible. So sad.
Your notes have beautiful words. Really, the best words. You have the best words. You totally destroy those others, believe me. Terrible what’s happened to TWA. Sad! Putting CdP on notice!
I was coming on here to post basically the same thing about St Emilion. There are some disasters in that region in 2005 thanks to the dogma of over-ripeness. I had the chance to taste the 2000 and 2005 Canon La Gaffeliere together – CLG has always been modernist, but the 2000 CLG had elegance, subtlety, and layers while the 2005 was just sweet, heavy, and alcoholic. The difference in palate presence (heavy and clumsy on the 2005) was very evident.
Some left bank chateau have also gone in a bad direction but there seems to be more resistance there, and also cabernet can stand up to this kind of abuse better than merlot.
I did some extreme vetting and only Domaine Milliere and VT made it. The last Milliere I had a year ago was good, albeit with a short finish. It’s time to take the VT out of its secret black site and see how it’s coming along.