Robert Parker (95)
Medium to deep garnet colour. Pretty perfume of freshly crushed raspberries / blackberries with nuances of wet leaves, cinnamon and white pepper. The medium to full bodied palate provides a good concentration of juicy berry fruit countered by medium to high acidity and a medium level of velvety tannins. Wonderfully balanced. Long finish with notes of white pepper. 13.4% alcohol.
Winespectator (95)
Powerful, with a round, almost creamy core of blackberry and raspberry fruit all layered with cocoa, sweet toast, mesquite and fig paste. Long and rich through the finish. Still quite primal, with lots in reserve.
Jancis Robinson (17.50)
Very attractive overripe fruit aroma with a touch of compost and farmyard – yet not overtly bretty or funky. Balanced, rounded, succulent and finely balanced – this is a great example of the style in the prime of its life, full of fruit but showing tertiary development too.
Vinous (95)
The 2006 Beaucastel shows the textbook character of a mature Châteauneuf-du-Pape. It has expansive raspberry and cherry scents with suggestions of succulent herbs, pungent flowers, cigar box and just a hint of earth. Given the high percentage of Mourvèdre (almost a third of the blend), I would have thought that the earthy aspect would have been more pronounced, but that is not the case here. The 2006 is silky in texture, and the suave blend of depth and energy highlights its red fruit along with floral pastille and baking spice flavors. It finishes extremely long and precise, with superb clarity and just a hint of finely polished tannins adding gentle grip. Beaucastel often shows some gamy character when the wines are young; however, the 2006 did not in barrel nor after it was bottled, and there’s no trace of it now. I noted almost twelve years ago that this was a wine that “beguiles rather than brutalizes”, and I’m happy with that assessment today.
Readers lucky enough to have bought the 2006 Beaucastel on release got great value compared to the where bottles that just arrived on the market are priced today, yet the 2006 is actually quite fairly priced for a 15-year-old, world-class wine that comes direct from the winery’s cellars.
Jeb Dunnuck (94)
A fantastic wine, the 2006 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape fleshes out with air and displays deep, earthy aromatics of dark fruit, roasted meat, graphite, mushroom and old wood. In the mouth, the wine displays a medium to full bodied, structured personality to go with a fantastic texture, concentrated fruit and a long finish. If drinking anytime soon this needs plenty of air.
BOW (8.25)
