My pops - let’s say Papes for the sake of this note - was in town tonight. He loves CDP, always has. And he likes the big rich ones. I dug around and found this Janasse VV that I totally forgot that I had. I pretty much stopped buying, and got rid of them, after the 2007 vintage or perhaps 2009. A modern style of CDP that did not appeal to me. Of course with 2003, I assumed the worst.
Well, it’s drinkable. It ain’t bad as in any sense of the word meaning “flawed”. Papes (recall, my dad), loved it. Totally loved it. I hated it.
I guess if you like Amarone, this CDP will appeal. It’s like someone allowed Grenache to ripen on vines to the point of becoming raisins and prunes. Used some form of medieval press to extract juice from this raisins, and bottled it. Raisin juice. Low acid, unctuous, sweet, though curiously, not necessarily high in ABV. While the bottle said 15%, I cannot say that it expressed 15%. It was like bottled dry raisin juice. Sure, it showcased velvety black berry kirsch liquor, black licorice and maybe a hint of dried garrigue as well, but the real note was as stated, from start to finish.
I do not know how to score this. Sub-70? For the record, CT seems to love this wine, but for a few yak palates like mine.
I never had a Janasse I like. Even in 2016 the wines of the domaine are too ripe and the wines too extracted. I think there still are “classic” or classy wines and producers to be found in the appellation but Janasse isn’t one of them.
You can just scrawl over the Papes on the label and make it Chateauneuf du Pops.
My dad liked the full throttle wines I shared with him as he got on in years. After he asked me how much one of them cost, we determined that it was best to have a category of pricing called “don’t ask”.
In theory, I have always respected Janasse. They are not Cambie wines. Like Delorme at Mordorée, they make the wines they like. In practice, as with Delorme’s Mordorée, which I never much cared for, I haven’t much liked the wines since the beginning of this century (they made some I liked in the 90s). I haven’t had one since the 07, but, since they make the wines they like, I don’t see any reason to think they’ve changed.
I don’t find them to be over-extracted. Ripe, most certainly yes, but not over-extracted. The Chaupin I’ve had have been bright, almost delicate, and smooth. It’s like grenache candy. That’s not a sign of over-extraction. The Vieilles Vignes bottling is burlier, but I put that down to the mourvedre component, which makes it darker and more tannic. I find neither of them are like the Clos St. Jean wines, which are highly-extracted (“over” might be judgment call). The 2007 Janasse VV I had earlier this year was fabulous (a bit to my surprise, I never know what I will get with 2007s), probably the best wine I’ve had so far this year.
That said, in my one experience with the 2003 Janasse VV, I found it to be somewhat clumsy. It wasn’t bad, but not something I would seek out.
I generally like Janasse, but I’ve never had the 2003.
The problem I have with 2003 French reds in general is based on the super hot summer they had. A lot of the reds got high scores when they were first released, but many of them have been falling apart because the grapes were too ripe due to the heat. That’s what I think of when I see your description, above. I have some Bordeaux that is just like this.
LOVE the Amarone analogy - so perfect for the transition many CdP went through after Parker jumped on board. Incredible to me how these producers changed so drastically, from a lighter bodied, easy drinking bright red strawberry profile, low alcohol, good acidity to crazy high alcohol (15.5% plus many times), dark red color, ripeness level through the roof.
Agree with you that it’s not just a 2003 issue with Janasse. To my taste, at least from when I used to try them, even their cool-climate vintages tasted hot.
I don’t drink much CdP, but we opened a humble 2000 Maucoil Privilege this week. Assumed it would be totally past its prime. Turned out to be balanced and FOOD FRIENDLY! Bet it didn’t get a high RP score though.
Regards,
Peter
Parker was guilty of a multitude of sins and he certainly encouraged this direction in CdP. But he was a fan of CdP dating back to the 80s. And wines like these weren’t really possible until climate change kicked in with vintages from 2000 (maybe 1998, if one thinks that the warmth of that year was the first augur of the change). Wines like Charvin, Rayas and Vieux Telegraphe were all in the 13.5 range in the 90s. None of them seek overripeness but they all hit 15% and higher these days. It can be hard not to except in unusually cool vintages.
Now special cuvees really can be laid much more at his doorstep. Prior to 1998 there were a bare handful of these. He literally said that they would be a way to raise prices and one started to see them multiply quickly (here again, the Janasse cuvees pre-date his espousal of the genre, though).
Good point - definitely warming vintages plays a factor, but as with most regions, if ripeness is a continuing issue, picking can be done a bit earlier, no? Charvin is the one CdP I kept buying through the years, stopped around 2012, as it held truer, stylistically, to what I expected out of CdP, rather than those huge, dark ripe bombs
But Charvin regularly hits 15% Warmer climates don’t just make grapes riper. When the temperatures are high enough, they slow and even stop the ripening process without reducing the actual sugar content that allows the yeast to munch away and produce alcohol. If growers picked at 13.5 or 14%, the wines wouldn’t be refreshingly high acid like a Loire red. They would taste of grapes that are picked before physiological ripeness. One can find some makers of rosé who do this with, to my taste, more than a little success. But I don’t know that it would work with grenache.
Totally this. The challenge for growers is to find strategies in the vineyard to slow down sugar accumulation to allow physiological ripening to ‘catch up’. I believe Grenache may be a late ripening variety by nature, so early picking at lower potential alcohol would just give nasty green tannins and other markers of underripe-ness.
All in all, I don’t think it’s easy for the vignerons in the southern Rhone to manage the challenge of climate change.
I like Janasse better than wines likes Vieux Telegraphe, but every Janasse I have ever had was pretty closed up and tight and dry. I never had a Janasse that tasted like a raisiny Amarone. But then I never had the Janasse 2003s.
I spent much of the summer of 2003 in wine growing regions in France (including the Rhone) and Italy. Some evenings were 100+ Fahrenheit all night long. I decided then and there that I would pass on 2003 in most of Europe, especially high temperature places like the Rhone. I’ve never been disappointed that I sat out 2003.
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