Delas Chateauneuf-du-Pape Haute Pierre 2018
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Robert
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James
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Jeb
Dunnuck
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Winemaker Notes
The color is a deep garnet red. The nose of the “Haute Pierre" has strong spicy aromas that reveal a rich, powerful body that is delicate, yet has a tightly-knit tanninc framework. On the palate, the wine is rich and unctuous, revealing intense licorice-like flavors.
Ideal with the traditional French and “Provencale” type-stews and meats.
Blend: 90% Grenache, 10% Syrah
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Alluring, with a range of dark plum, raspberry and boysenberry compote flavors that have a lightly mulled edge, showing hints of dried garrigue and juniper. There's a nice caressing feel on the finish. Grenache and Syrah.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Sporting slightly exaggerated, almost kirsch-like aromas, the 2018 Chateauneuf du Pape Haute Pierre comes out of the bottle in a burst of fruit. Subtle herbal notes emerge with air, lending just enough aromatic complexity to keep it interesting, while the medium to full-bodied palate is silky and taut, showing a fine tension between ripeness and acidity.
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James Suckling
The bold yet precise nose of damson plum, black cherry and delicately earthy notes pulls you into this full-bodied, yet elegant Chateauneuf. The generous tannins fill out the full body very neatly. Long, velvety finish with enough acidity to keep it fresh. Good aging potential.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Moving to the reds and starting with the single Southern Rhône, the 2018 Châteauneuf Du Pape Haute Pierre shows the vintage’s charming, front end-loaded style and has lots of strawberry and raspberry fruits, notes of incense and peppery herbs, medium-bodied richness, and just the balanced, charming, endearing style that makes this vintage so much fun to drink.
Other Vintages
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Robert
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Robert
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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.