Castelmaure 2003: Heat Stroke

It's amazing what heat can do.  A few months ago, I wrote a love like letter to my friend, Vini (nee Huge), urging him to try a beautiful, nuanced, if not downright funky wine.  It was a French creation from Castelmaure, a wine making cooperative in the Corbières appellation of the Languedoc.  I described this wine to St. Vini, the new world wine advocate, thusly:

"This wine has scents of red cherry, tomato, uhh… anise (but only a little bit), cedar (just a hint), and, hmmm, a smidgen of funk.  OK Ok – you might call it manure or barnyard, but I like to think of it as funk.  It makes me feel all soulful and whatnot."

That was the 2001 vintage.

The other day, I noticed the Castelmaure Grand Cuvée 2003 (same wine, different vintage), sitting quietly on the wine shop shelf.  I knew the French heatwave of 2003 had likely affected my dear little Castelmaure.  However, seeing the bottle brought back fond memories of Huge, errr, Vini in all his New-World-First glory, so I broke down and bought it.

The 2003 vintage is a completely different wine.  A little comparison for those playing at home:

Appearance
2001 - Rusty ruby in color with a definite copper rim
2003 - Deep indigo in color with a bright pink rim

Scents/Aromas
2001 - anise, cedar, red cherry, tomato, funk (boo-ya!).
2003 - tutti-frutti black berry compote, dosed with vanilla (think: the 'dessert' in a Hungry Man TV dinner)

Mouthfeel/Flavors
2001 - Medium-bodied in the mouth with slight tannins.  A very dry wine with tart fruit flavors and a subtle, lasting finish.
2003 - XXL-bodied in the mouth with chewy tannins.  The bold (a euphemism for "Holy #$%! That's one fruitbomb of a wine") fruit flavors finish off with some not-so-subtle black cherry liqueur heat.

Conclusion
2001 - "This wine makes me want to sing, “Let’s spend the night together.”  (not that I’m suggesting anything) (not that there’s anything wrong with that)"
2003 - This wine makes me want to play hide and seek - "Hey Castelmaure 2003, you go hide and I'll count to 34,578,912.  Ready. Set. Go!"  In other words, it needs some time to mellow.  My fear, however, is that it's just too damn giant to develop much more in terms of nuance and complexity.

I hope that the bigness and fruitiness of this wine can all be attributed to Mother Nature.  Although, I must admit to being a little unsettled.  What if the weather and a clique of new world wine stylists conspire to turn all future Castelmaure bottlings into fearsome bêtes noire?  Perhaps it is I who will have to adapt....

Hey, Vini.  Wanna go pound a few Amador Co. Zins?

Comments

[Marcus]

Nice post. And best use of Photoshop on a wine label to visually convey a point on hot vintages!

Funny, it seemed to me that the 2001 was the one that was "cooked" but maybe the bottle I got had been poorly stored.

"Hey, Vini. Wanna go pound a few Amador Co. Zins?"

Ummm....sure?

Vini

[beau]

Vini - If the '01 one was cooked, then the '03 was positively super-convection-heated. Night n day difference 'tween the two.

Marcus - The label was so hot it was melting right off the bottle!
:)