See also our daily-updated guide to coverage of 2013 Rhône and my overview of the vintage.
As I explained some time ago on our Members’ forum, I decided this year that since the southern Rhône grape crop was so shrunk by coulure, I would taste only the regular, so-called Tradition bottlings of Châteauneuf-du-Pape rather than the special elite bottlings known as Cuvées Spéciales. I was delighted to be able to sound out members overnight via the forum as to whether they would prefer me to taste next day a wide range of 2005s blind or look at the...