Domaine Olivier Hillaire Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Nez sur noix grillé, champignons, anis et herbe sec. En bouche, c est relativement puissant, rond et finale sucrée. Bien fait, mais faut aimer les vins avec un bon taux de sucre. Les avis sont partagés.

Chewy tannins, snappy acidity and grip. Rich purple coloring. This needed the bottle age to settle down a bit. Rustic but a good food wine. Ready now and over next 5yrs or so.

Dusty tannins, darker purple profile. Midpalate was a bit hollow and finish was short, which led to a "meh' for the wine overall. kind of a tweener - dark coloring which could have led to a more fruit forward but drank leaner than that. Will use my 2nd bottle as a pizza wine or something like that.

Took this to dinner with friends thinking it would be flexible with the food we were having. I should have read these notes a bit more carefully, as I would not have gone with something with quite the overt oak influence. I actually wanted more of the lower tannin grenache experience. That said, the wine was good, if somewhat oaky. The oak did mask some of the exuberant fruit--I was thinking raspberries here--that I hoped would marry well with our …

Very grenache. Sticky, hot, dark cherry. Cherry liqueur. Full bodied. Seems very modern. Polished. Great wine if that is your bag. Too grenachey and sweet for my tastes.

Ripe new world style. Probably nice if that is what you like. The fruit is not overripe, plummy and gamey in the mouth but big. Nothing subtle about it.

Nose of licorice, cigar box, raspberry fruit tart, touch of barnyard, modern CDP, more of the same on the palate, very flavorful, almost complex, near its peak, lovely to sip and went well with the stuffed chicken breast, medium/big body, and medium long but very flavorful finish and aftertaste. 90% Grenache and 10% Syrah from 65 year old vines.

Sunday Brown Bag Tasting: 2009 Chateauneuf-du-Pape (Augie's) : Garnet color. Notes of pine resin, red fruit and anise; a bit hot as well. Flavors of dark fruit and tapenade, spice and black fruit. Good acidity; nice finish. 92+ pts. My #2, Domino's #6 Group #2, 30 points

Beltramos 2009 Chateauneuf du Pape tasting : Good medium dark red fruit, typical woody grenache, decent balance.

2009 Châteauneuf-du-Pape cask and barrel samples (Beltramo's Wines and Spirits, Menlo Park, California) : Barrel sample - medium dark cherry red color; herbs, bay leaf nose; soft, tart black fruit, bay leaf, herbs palate, needs 1-2 years; medium-plus finish (90% Grenache, 5% Syrah, 5% Mourvedre)