Last night I popped two stunning, well aged and certainly, not close to being finished in life red Chateauneuf du Papes from Domaine du Pegau. The two wines, from the 1998 and 2000 vintages were about as different as different could be.
The 1998 was a old school style Chateauneuf du Pape, loaded with black fruit, wild meat, olives and herbs, but was very much rustic in style and taste. It had the kind of flavors that matched up really well with a morels, cepes and wild mushroom risotto.
The 2000 is a much more elegant, softer and smoother wine, showing far more forward development, complete with ripe cherry, blackberry, raspberry and olives.
Of the two, those tasting preferred the 2000 for drinking today, but in my view, by the end of the evening the 1998 was the winner. If there's more of these in the cellar, it would be great to taste them vs. other 1998s and 2000s at some point down the road, as the Pegaus have shown incredible aging potential, but with bottle variation. Fortunately, these two were right on where they should be and were a great way to end the year and start another.