Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Laurent Charvin made a sensational Chateauneuf du Pape in 1998. Comparing the vintage to a mix of 2010 and 2009, his 1998 sports a still youthful color to go with perfumed notes of pepper, black cherries, garrigue and leather. There’s a touch of amber at the rim, and while it’s certainly mature, it’s one of the more lively, youthful wines in the vintage today. This is a beautiful wine to enjoy over the coming 4-5 years, although it will hold nicely for longer. Note, the blend is the normal 85% Grenache and 5% each of Mourvedre, Syrah and Vaccarese, not destemmed, and aged 100% in big concrete tanks.
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Wine Spectator
Shows this domaine's typical racy red fruit profile--raspberry and macerated cherry--but there's also a layer of black fruit underneath, with alluring spice box and sweet earth. The nice tangy acidity is still riding high on the finish. Really blossoms in the glass. This is just hitting its stride.
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.