2004 Telegramme

Color me very surprised, and a bit peeved. Tonight I saw a bottle of

2004 Telegramme labelled as a CdP, selling for $33. It had the same basic reversed label of the Vieux Telegraphe, the one used for the 2002 Telegramme.

If anyone recalls, and I'm sure you do, the reason the '02 was called Telegramme and the labels were printed on the reverse of the VT CdP labels was because the Rhone was hosed by rain and floods in 2002. As a result, the grapes were generally inferior. VT reportedly lost all its syrah but saved its grenache, so they put out the '02 Telegramme as a 100% grenache. I bought it from Premier Cru for $14.99.

Here's how Paul at Premier Cru described the '02 Telegramme:

My understanding is that all of the Vieux Telegraphe fruit that would normally >go into the estate bottling ($35) was declassified into this bottling. As >such, there will be no proper 2002 Vieux Telegraphe CDP.

I know...he said $35 for the estate Telegraphe! Talk about making me nostalgic. That was in November of 2004. A year later it was selling for $55, and that was before the dollar crashed against the Euro.

Anyway, I tried the '02 Telegramme and it was thoroughly one dimensional. Even at $15 I didn't think it was worth a re-order. The

2004 I saw tonight also has no syrah. It's 90% grenache and 10% mourvedre. I don't know if it's any better than the 2002, but I'm not taking a $33 chance. It seems to me VT anticipated the run-up in the estate Telegraphe, and stuffed this wine into the mix to establish a "second tier." (As they say in GalloSpeak, heh.) It didn't rock at $15, and I'll bet it doesn't at twice that price, either.