Winemaker Notes
Bosquet des Papes Chateauneuf-du-Pape Tradition is a nice red purple color with shiny highlights. On the nose, this Chateauneuf-du-Pape spreads aromas of little red berries. It has a sweeping silky smooth mouth.
Ideally be served with game, such as jugged hare or jugged boar.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This offers a core of warm plum sauce and cherry compote notes laced liberally with singed sandalwood, red tea and tobacco leaf flavors. Accents of perfumed fruit, singed chestnut and shiso leaf mark the old-school finish, with a lightly dusty structure.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The classic 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape checks in as 75% Grenache and 11% each of Syrah and Mourvèdre, with the balance a mix of other permitted varieties. Beautiful blackberry and raspberry fruits as well as spice, Provençal garrigue, and ground pepper emerge from this beauty, and it's a medium-bodied, character-filled, spicy, complex red to enjoy over the coming 10-12 years or so.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
More concentrated and slightly darker-fruited than the 2020, the 2019 Châteauneuf du Pape Cuvée Tradition boasts scents of clove and allspice alongside ripe cherries. It's full-bodied and richly tannic but also mouthwatering and long. It's a sturdy CdP that can be drunk young with grilled beef or lamb or aged and then paired with rich braises and stews. Best after 2023
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Decanter
Fresh and precise berry fruits on the nose, no overripe character. A juicy, harmonious, exuberant style, it has good structure to match the fruit and decent length too.
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.