2001 Pierre Usseglio "Mon Aïeul" Châteauneuf-du-Pape

SKU #1111136 97 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de Mon Aieul (85% Grenache and equal parts Syrah, Mourvedre, and Cinsault) tips the scales at a prodigious 15.8% alcohol. Half of the wine is aged in neutral wood foudres and the other half in tank prior to being bottled unfined and unfiltered. The sources for Mon Aieul are three vineyard parcels with vines averaging between 75 and 87 years of age. The 2001 is much more structured and backward than the 2000, 1999, or 1998. The color is a dense purple, and the bouquet offers sweet but reserved aromas of blackberries, raspberries, crushed rocks, and kirsch liqueur. It possesses superb texture, enormous body, and tremendous purity as well as overall symmetry. The tannin is high, but it is largely concealed by the wealth of fruit and extract. Give it 3-4 years of cellaring, and drink it over the following 15-18. This fabulous 2001 will provide fascinating comparisons when tasted alongside the 2000, 1999, and 1998 over the next 10-15 years. (2/ 2001)

93 points Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar

Red-ruby. Raspberry liqueur, game and exotic woodsmoke on the nose. Large-scaled, powerful and dense, with an impressive, solid core of almost medicinal black cherry and dark berry fruit. Very deep, rich, young Chateauneuf with strong but ripe palate-coating tannins and superb persistence. This will reward seven to ten years of cellaring. (2/ 2004)

93 points Wine Spectator

This shows some surprisingly mature aromas of cèpe, roasted apple wood and mulled spice, along with plenty of lightly stewed plum, fig and black currant fruit. But light briar and juniper notes fill in on the finish and this still has cut and drive, thanks to racy acidity. Lots of character here.- 2001 Châteauneuf-du-Pape non-blind retrospective (November 2011). Drink now through 2019. 830 cases made. (Web-2012) (11/ 2011)