Domaine de la Vieille Julienne, Les Hauts-lieux, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, 2017, 15.5% abv.
Nose: very controlled, obvious dark fruits in a light metallic matrix, nicer cooking herbs, but thats about it. Expecting a rich and flavorful experience on the palate.
Palate: medium to full body but closer to medium, entry is already strong in flavor with herbal crusted red fruits, like a nice savory fruit pie, but bits of unsalted pistachio here and there. Mid palate has the dryness come out, quite savory, like a really savory baked strawberry, blackberry, and blueberry mix with the sugars zapped out by aliens, reminds me of pre-peak Bordeauxian Cabernet Sauvignon sans wood, not getting olives which I usually get in syrahs. No noticeable vanilla or smoke or wood. Back palate is full red, black, and blue fruit soup, feeling the influence of particles, i.e. tannins, not getting any mushroom, soil, or forest-related elements. However, the tannin element is to be studied. Doesn't seem like a Syrah or GSM blend… hmm, and not getting new oak or small oak barrels.
Finish: medium to long but closer to medium, a sort of non-metallic dryness, a bit like chalk without the carbonate flavor, light cooking spices, a sweet layer of strawberry jam coats the tongue, no alcohol. Tannins seem stronger than they should be.
Vernacular: nose shows primary with little secondary. Medium body, moderate acidity, light minerality, some sweetness, fine to medium-grained powdery tannins, no alcohol. Medium finish, dry.
Drank over 3 hours… last half with stewed pigs feet. Found out this is a destemmed blend of 60% Grenache, 20% Mourvedre, 10% Cinsault, and 10% Counoise from relatively late ripening fruit in the Mont Redon lieu-dit. Got this for about KRW₩177K, or about USD$132, in South Korea. Jancis Robinson gave this a 17.5/20 in 2018 from cask. Agreeing with AGELVIS 2026 post on CT on this one.
Grade: C+
by starvinggigolo