Critic: Jeff Leve

Tasted: 21-SEP-14

Drinking Dates: -

Score: 80

What happened to this wine? It looks like a 40 year old bottle of wine with its brownish hue. It's almost maderized. I did not finish my glass. I am going to pop another bottle in the moderate future.

Critic: James Molesworth

Tasted: 30-APR-05

Drinking Dates: -

Score: 93

Old-time, rustic style, with lots of dark, brawny licorice root, sweet earth, spice, baked plum and dark currant flavors. Rich and chewy, this gains muscle and flesh as it sits in the glass. Impressive. Drink now through 2015. 600 cases made. –JM

Critic: Robert Parker

Tasted: 27-FEB-04

Drinking Dates: 2007-2020

Score: 96

The Cuvee Centenaire is produced from ancient vine (planted in 1889) Grenache (80% of the blend, along with 8% Syrah and 12% Mourvedre). The 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Centenaire is superior to the 2000, but slightly behind the 1998. This fabulous wine boasts a dense ruby/purple color as well as a provocative perfume of incense, black tea, plums, figs, and kirsch liqueur. As it sits in the glass, this full-bodied, dense 2001 offers up notes of pepper, smoke, and balsam wood. Rich and voluptuous with great length, massive body, and a structured, long, heady, tannic finish, its alcohol must be over 15%, but it is well concealed by the wine’s great concentration. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2020.

Critic: Stephen Tanzer

Tasted: 01-JAN-04

Drinking Dates: -

Score: 96

(an 80/20 blend of grenache and syrah) Dark red. Incredible nose melds plum, spicecake, woodsmoke, mocha, earth, minerals and dried herbs; this covers all the major Chateauneuf du Pape food groups. Like liquid silk in the mouth, but with powerful underlying spine. A saline, superconcentrated wine that coats every millimeter of the palate with explosively rich, insinuating flavor yet does not come across as extreme or over the top. In fact, this is almost understated today, with a wonderfully long, elegant finish. A wine to chew on as much as to drink. -- Stephen Tanzer