Maison Tardieu Laurent - Châteauneuf du Pape - Vieilles Vignes 2008

The only question with this wine is whether it might be too much of a good thing. It’s full bodied and densely concentrated, with oaky notes of toasted almond and vanilla layered over plummy fruit, finishing warm and lush. Hedonistic to the max.

Joe Czerwinsky
Wine Enthusiast , 92/100 , 2011-10-01

A dense, concentrated, and muscular ‘08 that still needs a couple of years to round into shape, the 2008 Tardieu-Laurent Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes is a blend of 90% old vine Grenache and 10% Syrah that was aged in new and 1-year-old French oak. It sports a semi-opaque, blood red color to go with smoky, complex notes of mulled cherries, hoisin sauce, toasted spice, rolled stone, and beef jerky-like aromas on the nose. This is followed by a medium+ bodied wine that shows solid concentration, ripe fruit, solid tannin, and vibrant, racy acidity that carries in to a lengthy finish. Where a lot of ‘08s should be consumed in their first 5’ish years of life, this should continue to improve for 2-3 years and have a solid decade or longer of prime drinking after that.

Jeb Dunnuck
The Rhone Report , 92/100 , 2011-09-01

Opaque ruby. Sexy aromas of black raspberry, spice cake, garrigue and rose, with a touch of smoky minerals adding lift. Deeper and more serious on the palate, which offers bitter cherry and blackberry flavors that are given spine by juicy acidity. Fine-grained and silky on the persistent finish, which repeats the spice and floral notes. This has lost the firm edge that I found last year and should drink well young.

Josh Raynolds
Stephen Tanzers International Wine Cellar , 90/100 , 2011-04-01

Large-scaled but beautifully rendered, with a dense core of Black Mission fig, blackberry and black currant fruit woven together with suave espresso, chocolate, maduro tobacco and Lapsang Souchong tea notes. Accessible now, but should cruise for a while.

James Molesworth
Wine Spectator , 94/100 , 2010-10-15

Dark brownish crimson with a pale rim. Very, very ripe – actually it smells overripe – quite a triumph for 2008?! Not fresh enough for my taste, though I can see why someone would want to show that wines like this were possible in a year like 2008. Very drying tannins on the finish. Just not enough life and vivacity for me. More like cough medicine. Very sweet, with a hot finish. It’s certainly dramatic and some will love it but I wonder whether it will ever be perfectly balanced.

Jancis Robinson , 16/20