Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Extravagant is the word for this wine, from its sweet floral scents to its saturated texture. A blend of 80 percent roussanne and twenty percent grenache blanc fermented in tank, it’s like an eternal well of flavor, juicy, floral, herbal and spicy. The acidity rides through the flavors like and electric current, invisibly energizing the wine, and promising to hold it strong while it mellows in the cellar. It is delicious now for a celebratory meal, but should be even more compelling in another six to twelve years, when the minerality has had more time to assert its presence.
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Wine Spectator
A lush, tropical style, with a lovely core of papaya and creamed peach backed by acacia honey and lightly toasted macadamia nut notes. The long, creamy finish has a beautiful mouthfeel, while the papaya note echoes on.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The big white wines, of course, are the two cuvees of Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape blanc. The 2011, which is 80% Roussanne and 20% Grenache blanc vinified in tank, is showing tremendous notes of honeyed grapefruit, white peach, apricot, marmalade, crushed rock and spring flowers. Now these wines are made from earlier harvested grapes and no malolactic, so they should age slightly better and more evenly than they have in the past. As I have said before, the Chateauneuf du Pape Roussanne Vieilles Vignes, from 100% old vine Roussanne, is the Montrachet of southern France. The 2011 is sensational, a wine of great complexity, intensity and full-bodied power. Lots of rose petal, marmalade, honeysuckle, candle wax, tangerine and orange rind notes make up this fabulously rich, intense wine that just blows me away every time I taste it in its youth.
Full-bodied and flavorful, white Rhône blends originate from France’s Rhône Valley. Today these blends are also becoming popular in other regions. Typically some combination of Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier form the basis of a white Rhône blend with varying degrees of flexibility depending on the exact appellation. Somm Secret—In the Northern Rhône, blends of Marsanne and Roussanne are common but the south retains more variety. Marsanne, Roussanne as well as Bourboulenc, Clairette, Picpoul and Ugni Blanc are typical.
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.