Domaine de la Mordoree Chateauneuf-du-Pape La Reine des Bois 2003

Professional Ratings

• 97 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
  A wine I’ve been lucky enough to have numerous times recently, the 2003 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de La Reine des Bois is gorgeous. Quite possibly the wine of the vintage, it shows thrilling levels of blackberry, licorice, toasted bread, and garrigue to go with a full-bodied, massive, yet layered and seamless feel on the palate. There’s none of the rusticity or coarse tannin that’s common in the vintage, and it possesses beautiful purity, sweetness of fruit and length. Drink it over the coming 2-4 years.
• 97 Wine Spectator
  Captivating raspberry ganache and cassis aromas and flavors pump through this richly layered beauty, with notes of melted licorice, bittersweet cocoa, fig paste and hoisin sauce. The long, driven finish drips with fruit and minerality, with seriously embedded structure. Best from 2010 through 2030.
• 97 Jeb Dunnuck
  The 2003 Domaine de la Mordorée Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de la Reine des Bois shows an amazingly dark and completely opaque color along with a to die for nose of raspberries, cassis, licorice, violets and integrated smoky wood notes. With air, minerals and subtle spice notes start to emerge and even for being so ripe and young, there's lots of complexity and this is not a monolithic fruit bomb. The palate actually started out slightly disjointed and showed excessive, bitter tannins but after 7 hours of being open, everything came together and is simply stunning. Full bodied and powerful with ripe, rich fruit. The texture is definitely on the heavy side but there is so much fruit and structure underneath all the fruit. This finishes very long with substantial, sweet tannins. This is more powerful than the 2000 (but not as open and lush) and not as seamless as the 2001. This was double decanted at 1 O'Clock and left in the cellar with the cork out until 7 O'clock and then consumed over the evening. This seems almost impervious to air and more time would have been better.
  Rating: 97+
• 93 Wine Enthusiast
  A dark, brooding wine, packed with wood and dry tannin flavors. At the same time, the fruit is huge, with chocolate, dark plum, cassis and sweetness. This is a dense wine that is going to be hugely impressive after 5 years of aging. Imported by Kysela Père et Fils.