The 2010 Vintage from the Château de Beaucastel
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It’s soil Jim, but not as we know it (or
“We’re going to need a bigger
trowel”)
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The red wines of Beaucastel are rocketing into a new
era of quality. Gone is the rusticity that was, for
many years, considered part and parcel of the style
here. We now have something altogether finer, more
focussed and, yes, cleaner.
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And of this new era (if one can describe as an era a
period of 4 years or so) 2010 is the finest wine.
Hell, it’s quite probably the finest wine
produced here ever.
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And a word about the whites. The Vieilles Vignes
Roussanne is regarded as pretty much the top white of
the southern Rhône Valley and “up
there” with Chave’s white Hermitage in
the north. We are certainly talking something on a
par with grand cru white burgundy. If exceptioanlly
rich and complex dry white wine is your thing, they
don’t come much more exotic and exciting.
That leaves the “basic” white
Châteauneuf-du-Pape. All I will say is that I
have just finished my case of the 1999 vintage of
this wine and everyone for whom I have poured it has
ben rendered speechless by its overwhelming
loveliness. If you were to think of it as
top-of-the-tree Meursault from a top-flight producer,
you’d be quite wrong, but closer to the truth
than any other description I can think of for the
time being.
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| Vintage |
Wine |
Drink dates |
Case size |
Price In Bond |
| 2010 |
Coudoulet de Beaucastel, Côtes-du-Rhône, Château de Beaucastel, Southern Rhône, France
Notes: This is both remarkably backward for a Coudoulet and also exceptioanlly fresh. Black and red fruits intertwine with the zippy acidity and thrust through to a very, very long finish. There's a lightness of touch here, combined with a wonderful concentratoin and intent. This'll become something very special.
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2012-2022 |
12x75cl |
£135.00 |
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| 2010 |
Coudoulet de Beaucastel, Côtes du Rhône, Château de Beaucastel, Southern Rhône, France
Notes: This is both remarkably backward for a Coudoulet and also exceptioanlly fresh. Black and red fruits intertwine with the zippy acidity and thrust through to a very, very long finish. There's a lightness of touch here, combined with a wonderful concentratoin and intent. This'll become something very special.
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2014-2025 |
6x150cl |
£141.00 |
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| 2010 |
Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Château de Beaucastel, Southern Rhône, France
Notes: It's the aspects of red fruits, as well as the floral notes on the nose that alert one to the fact that this is the product of a relatively cool growing season. Then the black fruits and hints of liquorice place one firmly in Châteauneuf. What words most often sum up the wines of this southern appellation? "Feral", "wild", "impressive"? When tasting the '10, the first word I wrote when the wine hit my tongue was "beautiful". What's going on?!? That's generally an epithet I reserve for burgundy. Yet this vintage of Beaucastel manages to marry an exquisite elegance to great purity and a wonderful mineral expression that in many notable vintages will be swamped by ripe fruit. Tannin is integrated within the fruit and wonderfully grippy, the whole experience a really fresh one. I finished by writing the word "beautiful" again. I suspect that this will turn out to be an object of desire for lovers of Châteauneuf du Pape for many, many years to come.
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2017-2030 |
6x75cl |
£252.00 |
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| 2010 |
Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Château de Beaucastel, Southern Rhône, France
Notes: It's the aspects of red fruits, as well as the floral notes on the nose that alert one to the fact that this is the product of a relatively cool growing season. Then the black fruits and hints of liquorice place one firmly in Châteauneuf. What words most often sum up the wines of this southern appellation? "Feral", "wild", "impressive"? When tasting the '10, the first word I wrote when the wine hit my tongue was "beautiful". What's going on?!? That's generally an epithet I reserve for burgundy. Yet this vintage of Beaucastel manages to marry an exquisite elegance to great purity and a wonderful mineral expression that in many notable vintages will be swamped by ripe fruit. Tannin is integrated within the fruit and wonderfully grippy, the whole experience a really fresh one. I finished by writing the word "beautiful" again. I suspect that this will turn out to be an object of desire for lovers of Châteauneuf du Pape for many, many years to come.
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2020-2035 |
6x150cl |
£510.00 |
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| 2010 |
Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc, Château de Beaucastel, Southern Rhône, France
Notes: A rich and dense nose; cool, yet ripe and of fresh fruits (pear and yellow peach), as well as peach skins, liquorice, along with aromas of flowers and lime cordial. Without looking too hard, I also identified nut and liquid rock scents. The palate is also dense, offering a rich fluid and a lovely one. This is a mineral experience and reveals an almost peppery grip. A very long and very lovely wine. Bags of structure here. Dense and cool and straight and very long. A very age-worthy wine.
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2014-2022 |
6x75cl |
£240.00 |
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| 2010 |
Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Vieilles Vignes Roussanne, Château de Beaucastel, Southern Rhône, France
Notes: Touch smoky, this. Small oranges here, as well an aroma that approaches menthol in its medicinality (first new word of the day! Yesssss!). It's spicy too. This comes across as even cooler than the "straight" Ch9 Blanc. It's another rich, fluid wine and a more backward one. Very long, this, and offering fine mineral grip. Flowers dried and fresh; crushed minerals and lime blossom. Uber cool and controlled, as well as being very elegant. Just a fabulous wine.
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2015-2025 |
6x75cl |
£390.00 |
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