14 2003 CNDPs ranked

I was fortunate enough to attend Friday night's Southern California Grape & Gripe Group tasting of 14 2003 Chateuneuf du Papes. I was just about the least experienced taster there and so I don't have individual notes of my own, but there is this write up on Squires' bulletin board:

The bottles were wrapped in brown paper so we didn't know what they were and were served pretty much in a random order in two flights. Results from flight one were:

1. Chateau Fortia, Cuvee du Baron. 2. Dom. de la Cote de L’Ange, Vielles Vignes. 3 Dom. de la Charbonniere, “Cuvee Mourre de Perdrix”. 4. Pierre Usseglio 5 Chante Perdrix 6. Vieux Lazaret. 7. Bosquet des Pape

From the second flight:

1. Vieux Donjon 2. Dom. Roger Perrin. 3. Dom. Grand Veneur, “Les Origines”. 4. Dom. de Cristia 5. Mas de Boislauzon. 6. Vieux Telegraphe. 7. Cuvee du Vatican, Reserve Sixtine.

The first flight generally had the better wine, I thought. The second flight had the two wines that nearly everyone agreed upon. The Vieux Donjon was the highest rated wine of the night. And most hated the Cuvee du Vatican. Bennett said in his notes it doesn't have a lot to identify it as CNDP. I'll take it a step further and say that if you handed it in a glbutt to most experienced wine drinkers very few could detect nuances that sould make it seem French. Way too much oak. The second flight also had the most controversial wine of the night. I ranked the Dom. Grand Veneur first, which elicited a loud "Hah!" from the taster next to me. I was the only first place, but it got several second and third place votes. It also got a lot of sixth place votes and I think the only seventh place votes in the second flight that didn't go to Cuvee du Vatican. Despite all the low votes it finished third. In the first flight, my first place vote went to Chante Perdrix. Bennett observed on Friday night that it tastes like it's going to fall apart next week. The good news for me is that I brought the Chatue Fortia, winner of the first flight. I got it for $22 from Premier Cru. The bad news is that I ranked it fourth. I tasted a lot of tannin and I think I gave up on it before it had a chance to open. I ranked Vieux Donjon second in the second flight and View Telegraphe third. To me its poor showing was the biggest surprise of the night. Although I guess I should say I only knew it by reputation. I had not tasted it before Friday night.