DESCRIPTION
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, Oct 07
Inky/dense purple to the rim, the 2005 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve Sixtine offers up scents of creme de cassis, pain grille, resiny pine forest, roasted herbs, and pepper. Full-bodied, rich, meaty, and deep, it is a structured, masculine, full-bodied Chateauneuf that should be at its peak between 2012-2025. 92 points
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, Feb 07
One can imagine that the 2005
Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve Sixtine is even more backward than the regular
bottling. Saturated black/purple in color with a classic nose of a walk
in a pine forest intermixed with roasted herbs, black cherry liqueur, cassis,
and something I often pick up in this wine, an almost earthy, peppery meatiness
that, for lack of a better description, reminds me of a high-class steak
au poivre dish at a French bistro. This is full-bodied and deep – a wine
built/made for connoisseurs who have the patience as well as the cold cellars
to store it. Give it 3-5 years of bottle age and drink it over the following
two decades. This is one more estate that has come back strong because of
a change in generations with the young, competent Jean-Marc Diffonty replacing
his father, one of the grumpy but personality-filled characters of Chateauneuf
du Pape. Yet from a winemaking standpoint, the father was inflexible and
unwilling to change. Diffonty has lower yields and introduced a new blend,
the Reserve Sixtine which is a blend of 50% Grenache and the rest Syrah
and Mourvedre, the latter two components spending time in small oak barrels. 92-94 points
Stephen
Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, Jan/Feb 07
Dark red. Intense oak
spice notes and dusty herbs accent bright red berry aromas. Sweet and silky,
with powerful raspberry and kirsch flavors, supple tannins and excellent
thrust on the finish. This is wonderfully bright and energetic, with the
balance to repay cellaring. 92-95 points
