Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2010 La Nerthe Chateauneuf du Pape exhibits the rare combination of unbridled power and freshness, minerality and abundant aromatics. A well-made, delicious red, with blueberry, boysenberry, black raspberry fruit, some background wood smoke, and the tell-tale Provencal garrigue, pepper and loamy soil notes, it is a wine of finesse, power and richness that should drink nicely for 10 to 15+ years.
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Wine & Spirits
This is focused and intense, a beam of sweet, sappy berry fruit riding over velvety-firm tannins. It feels surprisingly fresh and vivid for a 2010, the acidity keeping it lively while the flavors last long. It's balanced and feels as though it will easily age well for the next 15 years.
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Wine Enthusiast
The 2010 La Nerthe is a top vintage of this wine, which typically includes a decent proportion of Mourvèdre. It’s spicy and plummy in style, with notes of cinnamon and clove that add welcome complexity to the dark fruit. Drink it over the next 10 or more years.
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Wine Spectator
A blast of toasted spice leads the way for a core of linzer torte, plum sauce and dark cherry preserves. The solid, juicy finish lets a red licorice note extend through it, with nice underlying grip. Drink now through 2021.
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.