Beaucastel, Chateauneuf du Pape 1994

1.0cm

98 Points CellarTracker

Out of a 3 liter bottle. A best friend gave me this bottle on release, to open upon celebration of one of my sons' milestones. 

Well, graduation from professional school is that milestone!

This wine couldn't have been more perfect. We all took a turn of the corkscrew key. The cork did break off (didn't have my Durand corkscrew), but we salvaged it. Decanted the wine, about a liter at a time, and enjoyed it over 3 hours or so. The wine was great upon opening, but became brilliant over the next hour or so. Moist soil notes, figs and other perfectly matured black fruits, with beautiful garrigue and perhaps clove-y notes. Just kept evolving, with the last glass being the best. A perfect experience, it lived up to the hype. Thanks to Zuli. 3/22/2024

94 Points CellarTracker

The bottle of 5/12/25 needed half an hour to wake up. But this one needed a full hour and a quarter to come fully alive. Then cedar, strawberries, leather, autumn forest, cherries, smoke, and nutty spice cake, but all very quietly present, just barely there, followed by a lovely and surprisingly long aftertaste that first slowly expanded in the mouth and then took the longest longest time to fade away. This is a lovely wine, but not in one of the conventional ways--if you can adjust your expectations to what it is, you may find that you love it. [Tasted over not quite 2 hours from the Jancis Robinson glass. I gave this bottle more than two weeks upright to allow sediment to settle out.] 6/10/2025 Previously tasted 5/12/25, 5/1/23, and 2/8/22.

94 Points CellarTracker

This needed about half an hour in the glass to fully wake up, when it revealed itself as mysterious and intriguing but faint, bordering on ethereal--cedar, pomegranate, smoke, strawberry, autumn forest, baked ham, a touch of cherry, and hints of spices, followed by a lovely and phenomenally long afertaste--but all of this rather delicate. [Tasted over an hour and a half from the Jancis Robinson glass. Briefly tasted from the Conterno glass, which was poorly matched with this wine. The description includes notes from the moment the bottle was opened through the entire tasting period. I gave this bottle more than two weeks upright to allow sediment to settle out.] Previously tasted 5/1/23 and 2/8/22--I suspect (but don't know) that the wine has not changed and that my much much higher score this time around merely reflects my own increased openness to wines of differing character. In its own quiet and idiosyncratic way, this is a beautiful wine. I can easily imagine someone with different tastes giving this a higher or lower score. 5/12/2025

91 Points CellarTracker

Opens up in the glass. Little bit over peak but still holding very strong. Some black and red fruit in the nose. Balanced even with the masked fruit. Can hold for 2-3 years easily 6/29/2024