2001 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage a Jacques Perrin

60% Mourvèdre, 20% Grenache, 10% Counoise and 10% Syrah from old vines on the best Beaucastel plots. Generally only 750 cases made per year. Grapes are destemmed and the wine is aged for 18 months in used French oak barrels. Browning garnet with brick rim. Gorgeously aromatic with bottle-aged aromas of undergrowth, sweetly senescent red fruits, spicy, meaty, soy. Gorgeously fresh and complex and very long. (JH)

I found this bottle of 2001 Châteauneuf du Pape Hommage À Jacques Perrin to be slightly behind a recent bottle from my cellar. Nevertheless, it was perfumed and surprisingly open, with gorgeous cedar, charcuterie, truffle, blackberry and currant-like fruit all soaring from the glass. Full-bodied, seamless and supple, with its tannin, fruit and acidity perfectly balanced, it’s just now on the cusp of moving from its adolescent stage into the early stages of maturity. Give bottles another 3-5 years and enjoy over the following couple of decades. The blend here is the classic, foudre-aged mix of 60% Mourvedre, 20% Grenache, 10% Counoise, and 10% Syrah.

Crimson. Very rich and reverberant with lots of sweet ripeness. But some delicacy too. Very long – really builds on the palate. Almost fragile. Still extremely youthful! (JR)