Chateauneuf du Pape |  |
Chateauneuf du Pape | |
This vintage continued the regions hot streak and saw considerable hype in the media. The producers loved the wines and early reports from barrel sample had this vintage seeming like another step up from everything in the past. Since then though, there’s been more reservation on the wines given their tannic, masculine characters. I was able to taste a large number of these wines during my visit to the region in early 2007 and since then, I’ve retried almost all of them from bottle here in the states. For the most part, I’m a huge fan of this vintage and think that most wines show enough fruit to stand up to their considerable structure. Will this be another 1995 though with the wines not really opening up and delivering? We’ll find out in 10 years.
The vintage from a grower stand point was picture perfect and many vintners commented that the wines made themselves and throughout Chateauneuf, everyone was happy with the wines. Fabrice Delmore from Domaine Mordoree went as far to say that his 2005 was the best wine they had ever made, eclipsing their fantastic 2001. Flowering occurred in late May and was followed by a growing season that was cooler than both 2003 and surprisingly, 2004. Harvest for most producers was mid September.
An interesting vintage and the wines have changed considerably since bottling. Tasted at the domaines in early 2007 just after bottling, most wines showed fantastic fruit paired with considerable flesh, solid structure and beautiful purity. Shortly there after, these wines closed up and showed a much more tannic, masculine profile with fresh, crisp acids. When will they emerge… who knows and each wine will probably have to be taken on a case by case basis. The top wines show stunning purity of fruit paired with structured, tannic cores. At the low end, the wines can seem under ripe and overly tannic.