Winemaker Notes
A perfect complement to nearly all seafood dishes, especially full- flavored shellfish and assertively seasoned snapper or striped bass. This complex and refined cuvée is also well suited for poultry dishes, veal and pork as well as strong cheeses.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Possessing more brioche, honeysuckle, citrus and white flowers, the 2013 Châteauneuf du Pape Clos de Beauvenir Blanc is a more focused, fresh and lively example of this cuvée. Made from a similar blend of 59% Roussanne, 33% Clairette and the balance Grenache Blanc and Bourboulenc aged ten months in 88% French oak, the wine is medium-bodied, elegant and seamless, with terrific length on the finish. This beauty will be better in another year and evolve for a decade or more, although, as always, drinking in the first 3-4 years is always the sound bet.
-
Wine Spectator
Mature now, with a showy frame of warm buttered brioche and toasted macadamia nut notes around a core of mango, papaya and peach fruit flavors. Still has spine, with flashes of green tea and ginger adding energy through the finish. For fans of the opulent style, and now's the time to drink up. Drink now through 2018.
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.