Winemaker Notes
A very supple wine, with aromas of red fruits and rose petals. An ample palate with fresh notes of garrigue and fine and persistent tannins. This vintage shines with its finesse of fruit and its harmony.
Blend: 70% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 10% Mourvedre, 10% Cinsault
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The first vintage to emerge from Arthur and Hugo Mayard's portion of the former Vignobles Mayard, the 2021 Chateauneuf du Pape is 80% Grenache and 10% each Cinsault and Mourvèdre. Sourced from their vineyards in la Crau, Grand Coulee and le Pointu and made entirely in concrete, it's a great debut from a challenging vintage. Delicate floral-herbal nuances accent ripe strawberries on the nose, while the palate is medium to full-bodied, silky textured and elegant. It feels airy and light on its feet yet shows great persistence on the finish.
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Decanter
Slight garrigue and herbal touch to the pure raspberry fruit. Gentle, but has some enveloping weight and fruit on the palate. Acidity is well balanced, the alcohol gently warming but not unbalanced for the style. Good length too. An appealing, quite classic, well-proportioned Châteauneuf. Grown organically, destemmed, fermented in concrete, aged in foudres.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Châteauneuf Du Pape Clos Du Calvaire is up-front and charming, with ripe cherry and strawberry fruits, notes of peppery garrigue and spice, medium-bodied richness, and ripe, supple tannins. It's another clearly outstanding, balanced, satisfying wine in the lineup. It doesn't have the structure or tannic grip of the other two releases and is going to drink nicely right out of the gate.
Barrel Sample: 90-92 -
Wine Enthusiast
Juicy and seductive on the nose, with layers of raspberry, stewed fruit, white pepper, wild thyme,and warm stone. The palate is more savory, offering licorice, anise, bay leaf, and white pepper. Velvety in texture, this is easy to enjoy now yet built to cellar grace fully.
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.