Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A gorgeously rendered hedonists’ delight, with creamed melon, peach, apricot and quince flavors that glide along, supported by subtle ginger, hazelnut and piecrust notes. The long, lush finish has fruit for days. Drink now through 2020.
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Wine & Spirits
The Perrins farm about 17 acres of white varieties at Beaucastel, the majority of it roussanne. That grape accounts for about 80 percent of this wine, with bourboulenc, clairette, grenache blanc and picardan making up the rest. Vinified mostly in tank, with 30 percent in barrel, it strikes a head-turning balance between juicy, peachy fruit and breezy, floral delicacy. The wine grows in breadth as it takes on air, roussanne’s nutty warmth coming up alongside garrigue-like notes of earth and herbs, and yet it retains its initial energy, even after a couple days open on the counter. Decant it if you open it now; otherwise wait another six to eight years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A good, maybe not great vintage for the 2014 Châteauneuf du Pape Blanc, it’s still outstanding and offers loads of orchard fruits, brioche, crushed rock and buttered citrus in a medium to full-bodied, elegant, pretty style. I'd give bottles a year in the cellar and drink them over the following decade, but a recent retrospective has convinced me you can age these for just about as long as you’d like.
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.