2009 Chateau De Beaucastel Chateauneuf Du Pape 750 ml

When Robert Parker first called a hot-vintage Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape, “One of the greatest wines I’ve ever tasted,” he not only shined a bright light on the most revered winegrowing family the southern Rhone’s ever known -- he also called attention to the Perrin family’s secret ingredient: late-maturing, old-vine Mourvedre. 
 
In the torrid summer of 2009, Beaucastel would again outclass the rest of the appellation, turning out a voluptuous red-fruit blend – generously dosed with 30% fifty-year-old vine Mourvedre.   Parker compares it to the storied 1985, suggesting that while this lavishly high-toned 2009 is drinking beautifully out of the gate, it will hit its peak sometime in 2035!
 
As to James Molesworth, Wine Spectator’s Rhone Valley guru, he spoke of “dark smoldering cocoa, mesquite, tobacco and roasted fig notes, all inlaid with pure cassis and plum preserves fruit flavors,” before lobbing on 96 points – his top rating for any Chateauneuf-du-Pape of the vintage.
 
The 2009 Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape is one of the most voluptuous – and surely the most elegantly age-worthy -- bottles of this historic vintage.  Buttressed by a healthy dollop of 50-year-old-vine Mourvedre, Robert Parker compared it to the storied 1985, calling it “Full-bodied, unctuously textured, and silky smooth” -- suggesting that while it’s drinking beautifully on release, it will continue to age gracefully for 25 years!