1998 Bosquet des Papes Châteauneuf du Pape Cuvée Chantemerle Vielles Vignes
I am so excited about this wine! First off, it’s Châteauneuf du Pape, my favorite kind of French wine. Next, I managed to find this older bottle in magnum. That’s thrilling and rather grand at a party. Turns out that CdP is my father’s favorite French wine, too. Finally, the night that we opened this delightful bottle in honor of my generous parents’ visit to California, I learned from my mother that one of my maternal grandmother’s grandmothers was originally from the town of Châteauneuf du Pape. No wonder!!!
I came across this while browsing through the K and L Wines web site after I was inspired by some wine writer to look for older bottles now instead of buying recent vintages and waiting for a decade to try the stuff. I searched around a bit before buying. Several people thought that the 1998 vintage was good for the region. I already knew that we liked this particular wine in more recent vintages, as we had tasted them at a wine shop. So there we are.
When I went to pick it up at K&L, I got the best compliment of them all: the clerk who presented it to me looked at the bottle and said, “Wow! That’s cool.”
This CdP was a slightly rusty transparent red with a nose of hot rust and dry herbs. It was medium to full bodied with cherry, plum and other red fruit and a peppery finish. There were lots of supple tannins that glided across the tongue giving the wine a smooth and creamy texture that was delightful. We all loved it. Hegui exclaimed, “Oh, this is good!” My father, “I like Châteauneuf.” We managed to drink it down completely that night. Too bad, as I’d love more anytime!