2003 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Château de Beaucastel

Available for dispatch W/C 26th October

Critics' View:
  
"The 2003 Beaucastel Châteauneuf du Pape turned out as well as I could have hoped and is certainly an outstanding wine, deep ruby/purple with a tight but promising nose of black fruits, loamy, earthy notes intermixed with pepper, smoke, licorice, and dried herbs. The wine is somewhat closed in the mouth (but it had been bottled 30 days prior to my visit), has full bodied, moderately high, slightly rustic tannins, but big-impact flavors with plenty of texture, density, and purity. Give this wine 3-5 years of bottle age, and drink it over the following 20 years.
 
Drink 2009 - 2029"
 
92+/100pts. Robert Parker - The Wine Advocate
 
"One of the weaker vintages for this estate yet still outstanding, the 2003 Chateau de Beaucastel Châteauneuf du Pape delivers a surprisingly fresh profile, yet ten years after the vintage, it is entering the early stages of maturity. Loaded with red and black currants, iron, beef blood, rolled stone and garrigue on the nose, with no roasted fruit or over ripeness, it shines on the palate with excellent depth and richness. Medium to full-bodied, supple and integrated, with plenty of ripe fruit, it should continue to evolve for a handful of years."
 
90/100pts. Jeb Dunnuck - The Wine Advocate
 
"Bricky garnet. Smells very mature {tasted November 2021} with its rich, seductive undergrowth and cigar-box peppery spice. Extremely inviting. Rounded and still a little chewy in the mouth but surprisingly fresh for a warm vintage."
 
17/20pts. Julia Harding MW