1995 Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe Chateauneuf du pape

perfect storage for this 15 years old Chateauneuf du pape

This week I managed to get a brand new Italian machine for making pasta at home. So FRI evening I decided is time to test it and see how it works. It is the first time I am making pasta at home so I was prepared for any potential flaws in the final result. Fortunately for me I managed to do it properly and also to learn pretty well how to use the machine. A good friend of mine was very kind and offered me some fresh Romanian truffles harvested somewhere near Deva this week(thanks a lot A). So the final food was pretty amazing: shapeless pasta with Gorgonzola sauce and black truffles. Words are sometimes not enough to describe the feeling. Briefly it was one hell of a tasty dish.

shinny brand new pasta making machine

Here is how I prepared the food. I mixed some flour with 2 fresh eggs and a little bit of water. It is important to have eggs purchased directly from farmers as they are giving the nice color to the pasta.

farmer’s egg and flour mixed in a blender

blending result

Once the mix is done I pulled the dough out and started to introduce smaller pieces through the pasta machine. The machine is able to make 3 types of pasta: spaghetti, tagliatelle and thinner or thicker shapeless pasta. I did both shapeless and tagliatelle.

fresh home made tagliatelle

Once the pasta is done, it is introduced for 2-3 minutes in boiling water and as soon as it reaches the surface is cooked and can be pulled out.

boiling shapeless pasta

As I had fresh black truffles I chose to prepare a white sauce with Gorgonzola.

fresh truffles

Therefore I melted some Gorgonzola cheese in sour cream on a pan with low fire stirring continuously until completely blended.

Gorgonzola, sour cream and olive oil

Everything took me about 30 minutes but there is still pasta left for other occasions. The final dish was covered with sliced truffles.

final dish

different perspective but same hearty dish

For this tasty dish, as I am not eating truffles very often, I chose to open an older bottle of wine that I had in the cellar. A 1995 Chateauneuf du pape seemed a perfect match for this.

keys to unlock heaven ?

1995 Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe Chateauneuf du pape

Price: 85-90 EUR

I purchased this wine from Belgium at the beginning of this year and it is important to note the perfect condition of this bottle, with the clean label on it and the perfect cork condition.

perfectly clean label

The wine had plenty of sediment so I left the bottle on a vertical position for about 12 h before opening it and then decanted for about 1h.

sediment sticks to the bottle

The wine has a deep dark red color. The nose explodes with dominant smoked cherry completed by earth, forest floor, leather, cedar and elements of truffle. Very old school and complex nose. In the mouth this medium plus body wine is very youthful and vibrant with plenty of years to go. It’s got firm tannins, it shows power and elegance, has a nice minerality, with a beautiful balance in the mouth, lots of glycerin and tastes like smoked sweet cherry and earth. With aeration the wine gains in body and coats the mid-palate better. There is a tasty bitter-sweet finish with leather, cedar and cherry in the medium plus aftertaste. Perfect integration of the 14% alcohol. An Excellent+ wine for me.

top bottle of wine

Would I buy this wine again ? Absolutely. This is a beautiful example of 1st class aged Grenache coming from a very famous and consistent producer from Chateauneuf du pape.

notice the beautiful dark color of the wine

Finishing a long week on a positive note and indulging yourself in a tasty home made dish paired by a top notch bottle of Chauteaneuf makes one appreciate life more and it is also a good way to start the weekend.

Thanks for reading!