1988 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape

“The 1988 Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape (from magnum) was gorgeous and shows the ageability of the wines of this estate and its incredible terroir. Light ruby colored and youthful, with soaring and complex notes of ripe berry fruits, white pepper, flowers and Provençal herbs, it was weightless on the palate and still had a terrific core of sweet fruit. It’s certainly fully mature, but had plenty of life. I’ve had dead bottles of this in the States, so as always with older bottles, provenance is king.” (02/2018)

“The 1988 Vieux Telegraphe is a lovely example of the vintage, with a superb and quite classic aromatic and flavor profile. The bouquet is deep. vibrant and complex, offering up scents of dark berries, dried raspberries, ground pepper, woodsmoke, herbs, charred earth, stony soil tones, roasted game and just a bit of bonfire in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and tertiary in its complexity, with melting tannins, a fine core of sweet fruit, lovely soil inflection and impressive focus and grip on the long, modestly tannic and soil-driven finish. This is a classic vintage of Vieux Telegraphe that is fully into its apogee of peak maturity, but will continue to age and evolve gracefully for at least another couple of decades. High class juice.” (07/2013)