2003 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Ch. de Beaucastel

Holding its colour nicely, despite the heat of the vintage; a lovely nose of ripe plums, hedgerow berries and sweet spice; no hints of 2003 torrefaction, or of anything more than a nascent secondary development; fleshy, ripe and generous nonetheless, relatively early to plateau perhaps, but it looks like holding court for at least the next five years, longer in all probability.
(Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer)