Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Amazingly perfumed and floral, the 2015 Chateauneuf du Pape La Reserve is a striking wine, drawn from the sandy lieux-dits of La Guigasse and Pignan. The blend of 55% Grenache and 45% Mourvèdre yields plenty of refined cherry and stone fruit elements, silky tannins and great elegance on the long finish. It's not the biggest kid on the block, just one of the best looking. What a pretty wine!
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Wine Spectator
A total stunner, with a long, pure beam of raspberry and red currant coulis streaming through, flanked by light violet, iron and incense notes before picking up lilting rooibos tea and rose petal accents on the finish. The fruit never fades, and there’s perfectly embedded acidity weaving everything together. A dreamy wine.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2015 Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Réserve checks in as a classic blend of 55% Grenache and 45% Mourvèdre that was brought up all in 600-liter demi-muids. It has a perfumed, elegant, full-bodied style in its black raspberry, passion fruit, orange blossom and floral aromas and flavors. With gorgeous tannin, impeccable balance and solid freshness, it's reminiscent of the 2011 and ideal for drinking over the coming 10-15 years.
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James Suckling
Just over half grenache, the balance is mourvèdre. This delivers spicy, brash and assertive dark berries, as well as pepper and dark stony aromas. The palate exudes creeping, dark plum-flavored fruit. Long tannins. Best from 2022.
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Decanter
55% Grenache, 45% Mourvedre. Seductive rose, close and cedar spice. Full but not heavy. Very fine tannins and bright raspberry acidity. Like a still lake – smoke on the water. A polished, pure and potent modern expression.
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.