An Old Friend

The twice delayed pig roast finally got off the ground last Saturday and with a good crowd came some good wines.  One that stood out from the crowd was a 2005 a Domaine du Vieux Telegraph, La Crau, a Chateauneuf de Pape.

A long,long time ago in a galaxy far away I owned and drank my fair share of Chateauneuf de Pape, but over the years the wines kept getting bigger and bigger and higher and higher in alcohol.  They stepped over the line for me a decade ago.  Nonetheless I plunged into this one without trepidation.  After one sip I got an empty glass and spent about five minutes pouring the wine back and forth between the two glasses to open it up a little.  It helped, but a few more hours would have helped more.

This is a very tight and dense wine.  I could smell clean leather, fruit and spice. It had a ton of ripe blackberry flavors with bits of oak and cinnamon added in to the mix.  The tannin was still strong and the acid was good, but there was still a bit of alcohol burn on the finish.  Produced from a blend of 65% Grenache, 15% Syrah, 15% Mourvedre and 5% Cinsault.
 
2005 a Domaine du Vieux Telegraph, La Crau.  15% alcohol and $90.