Winemaker Notes
Intense nose with red fruit aromas combined with complex smokiness. Tight and focused tannins on the palate. Enjoyable now but requires a few years of bottle maturation to fully integrate aging notes. Very elegant and refined finish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
The deep nose of elderberries, wet earth and licorice pulls you into this full-bodied, concentrated but very elegant Chateauneuf. Very fine, focused tannins that counterpoint the juiciness on the mid-palate and drive the very long, bright and minerally finish. A grenache-based cuvee that is 60% from vineyards with galet cobblestones, 10% on sandy soils and the rest from limestone soil. Drink or hold.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Bottled in June of this year, the 2021 Châteauneuf Du Pape checks in as 50% Grenache, 35% Syrah, and the rest Mourvèdre and other assorted varieties. It's another Burgundian-styled wine from this vintage with lots darker berries, redcurrants, pepper, and Provençal garrigue that carry to a medium-bodied supple, elegant, layered Châteauneuf revealing ripe tannins, beautiful balance, and outstanding length. It's a terrific success in the vintage.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Chateauneuf du Pape was just weeks from being bottled when I tasted it last summer. Cedar and vanilla notes accent black cherries in this medium to full-bodied assemblage of 60% Grenache, 31% Syrah, 8% Mourvèdre and 1% other permitted varieties. It's moderately concentrated, with a silky mid-palate and a softly dusty finish, a solid effort for the vintage. Tasted twice (once blind), with consistent notes.
Barrel Sample: 90-92 -
Wine Spectator
A robust, earthy version, this smolders with incense, tobacco and smoked plum flavors. Gains energy from fresh-cracked pepper and generous crushed iron accents, while tannins hold firm through the muscular close. Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Counoise, Muscardin, Vaccarèse and Cinsault.
With bold fruit flavors and accents of sweet spice, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre form the base of the classic Rhône Red Blend, while Carignan, Cinsault and Counoise often come in to play. Though they originated from France’s southern Rhône Valley, with some creative interpretation, Rhône blends have also become popular in other countries. Somm Secret—Putting their own local spin on the Rhône Red Blend, those from Priorat often include Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. In California, it is not uncommon to see Petite Sirah make an appearance.
Famous for its full-bodied, seductive and spicy reds with flavor and aroma characteristics reminiscent of black cherry, baked raspberry, garrigue, olive tapenade, lavender and baking spice, Châteauneuf-du-Pape is the leading sub-appellation of the southern Rhône River Valley. Large pebbles resembling river rocks, called "galets" in French, dominate most of the terrain. The stones hold heat and reflect it back up to the low-lying gobelet-trained vines. Though the galets are typical, they are not prominent in every vineyard. Chateau Rayas is the most obvious deviation with very sandy soil.
According to law, eighteen grape varieties are allowed in Châteauneuf-du-Pape and most wines are blends of some mix of these. For reds, Grenache is the star player with Mourvedre and Syrah coming typically second. Others used include Cinsault, Counoise and occasionally Muscardin, Vaccarèse, Picquepoul Noir and Terret Noir.
Only about 6-7% of wine from Châteauneuf-du-Pape is white wine. Blends and single-varietal bottlings are typically based on the soft and floral Grenache Blanc but Clairette, Bourboulenc and Roussanne are grown with some significance.
The wine of Chateauneuf-du-Pape takes its name from the relocation of the papal court to Avignon. The lore says that after moving in 1309, Pope Clément V (after whom Chateau Pape-Clément in Pessac-Léognan is named) ordered that vines were planted. But it was actually his successor, John XXII, who established the vineyards. The name however, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, translated as "the pope's new castle," didn’t really stick until the 19th century.