2006 Le Vieux Donjon Châteauneuf du Pape

Chateauneuf du Pape is a wine region within the Southern Rhone in France. There is prouced both white and red wines in the area, but the majority of wines are red. In total, the wines from this region can be based on a total of 18 different grape varietals, although the predominant grape is Grenache. Personally, I tend to find the reds from Chateauneuf du Pape to be a bit unbalanced with over ripened fruit and to high alcohol. But when you find the good ones, they can trully be great.

The 2006 vintage in Chateauneuf du Pape is by Robert Parker ranked as a 90 point vintage, which is not as high as the 2005, 2007 and 2010 cintage. When it comes to this area, that may not be a bad sign. Parker scores the ripe, hot vintages high, but when it comes to Chateauneuf du Pape with their big, alcoholic wines, those are the vintages that I actually want to stay away from.

Tasting note for the 2006 Le Vieux Donjon Châteauneuf du Pape

Nice red fruit, pepper and plum on the palate. I also get some mandarine and dirt flavours. The initial mouthfeel is promising, but the finish just ruins this wine. To me, the alcohol is so unbalanced on the finnish. It tastes like a vodka & wine drink. 83 points

I have always thougth I was pretty tolerant when it comes to alcohol in wines, but this was just too much. It looks as though I'm in a major minority though. Stephen Tanzer gave this a 94 points, Wine Spectator a 93 and Robert Parker 91 points. No scores on cellartracker are below 88 points. It might have been that the bottle wasn't an optimal one, but I don't think it was flawed.