1999 Chateauneuf du Pape Vieilles Vignes

An interesting wine and to me, this is pure, old vine Grenache from a average vintage that might just be pushing things a little too much. The 1999 Domaine de Marcoux Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes has the textbook Grenache profile of kirsch, liquefied stems, spice and floral notes but it’s also showing some headiness to the aromas and can come off as harsh at times. This really carries over onto the palate where it has a viscous, thick texture and subtle sweetness (from the alcohol). Certainly there’s nice acidity and the finish is impressive but it’s lacking that solid underpinning of fruit to stand up to its lofty alcohol. The bottle was open for two days and was down right finicky on the first night. Smooth, balanced, sweet and delicious at first, harsh and fume inducing the next. By day two, this calmed down and showed floral and kirsch dominated aromatics with an integrated, enjoyable palate. I’ve got a couple more bottles and am interested to see if this is a representative sample... If so, I’d drink these while the fruit’s still kickin!