2008 Domaine Tardieu-Laurent Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes
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Tasting notes
A dense, concentrated, and muscular ’08 that still needs a couple of years to round into shape, the 2008 Tardieu-Laurent Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes is a blend of 90% old vine Grenache and 10% Syrah that was aged in new and 1-year-old French oak. It sports a semi-opaque, blood red color to go with smoky, complex notes of mulled cherries, hoisin sauce, toasted spice, rolled stone, and beef jerky-like aromas on the nose. This is followed by a medium+ bodied wine that shows solid concentration, ripe fruit, solid tannin, and vibrant, racy acidity that carries in to a lengthy finish. Where a lot of ‘08s should be consumed in their first 5’ish years of life, this should continue to improve for 2-3 years and have a solid decade or longer of prime drinking after that.
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
Scented and perfumed on the nose, with a gravelly texture on the palate and plenty of heat on the finish – better integration than their 08 Rasteau. (RH)
Opaque ruby. Sexy aromas of black raspberry, spice cake, garrigue and rose, with a touch of smoky minerals adding lift. Deeper and more serious on the palate, which offers bitter cherry and blackberry flavors that are given spine by juicy acidity. Fine-grained and silky on the persistent finish, which repeats the spice and floral notes. This has lost the firm edge that I found last year and should drink well young.
Dark brownish crimson with a pale rim. Very, very ripe – actually it smells overripe – quite a triumph for 2008?! Not fresh enough for my taste, though I can see why someone would want to show that wines like this were possible in a year like 2008. Very drying tannins on the finish. Just not enough life and vivacity for me. More like cough medicine. Very sweet, with a hot finish. It’s certainly dramatic and some will love it but I wonder whether it will ever be perfectly balanced. (JR)