Winemaker Notes
Domaine de Beaurenard’s flagship wine is a quintessential blend, reflecting all the diversity of the terroir and the perfect synergy that exists between the soils and the grapes. It offers a supple and refined texture associated with a delicate aromatic palette that is the result of a constant quest for freshness.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Darkly coloured, deeply fruited - a promising start. Dense, concentrated and fairly tannic but with good freshness and great vibrancy of fruit. This has all it needs to age; it promises to be longer lived than most 2018s. The alcohol is the only thing holding it back from very long ageing - will poke out in time. A very good, classic, fresh clean style, not overly polished, but it has more energy than most in this vintage. Biodynamically-grown Grenache (66%), Syrah (15%) and Mourvèdre (10%), the rest being made up of Clairette Rose, Cinsault, Grenache Gris, Terret Noir, Picardan, Picpoul Blanc, Muscardin, Bourboulenc, Picpoul Noir, Vaccarèse, Roussanne, Picpoul Gris, Counoise and Clairette! They are grown on soils that are roughly one third each galets roulés, sand and chalk, and vinified mostly in stainless steel and tronconic wooden vats, then aged in oak barrels of various sizes and ages, including 5% new oak.
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Wine Spectator
This is a rock-solid offering, with a core of dark fresh plum, succulent raspberry and gently steeped blackberry fruit flavors lined with graphite, anise and wood spice accents. Shows solid grip and nice energy for cellaring. Best from 2022.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Hints of roast meat and espresso are backed by plummy notes on the nose of the 2018 Chateauneuf du Pape. It's a dense, concentrated and somewhat sturdy wine, full-bodied and muscular yet svelte, with blackberry and chocolate notes emerging on the long, silky-textured finish. Solidly built and nicely balanced, it should drink well for at least a decade.
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Jeb Dunnuck
A classic beauty, the 2018 Châteauneuf Du Pape has textbook notes of red and black currants, black cherries, scorched earth, and roasted garrigue to go with a medium-bodied, lively, elegant style on the palate that’s very much in the mold of the vintage. With solid mid-palate depth and moderate tannins, it’s already approachable, yet this wine will certainly have 10-15 years of prime drinking ahead of it. It’s a terrific, classic cuvée that I would be happy to have in the cellar.
The Coulons have estate-bottled their wines since the early 1900’s. Paul Coulon's father and grandfather were instrumental in creating the regulations of the Appellation Contrôlée system (Chateauneuf du Pape was France's first appellation contrôlée, in 1929). Detail oriented, meticulous to the point of perfectionism, visitors can peruse not only the informative Musée du Vin below their Rasteau vineyard, but detailed volumes for each vintage with ground temperatures, rainfall, hours of sunlight, etc.
Domaine de Beaurenard portfolio includes: Cotes du Rhone Rouge & Rose, Cotes du Rhone Villages Rasteau, Chateauneuf du Pape Rouge & Blanc and Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Boisrenard which is consistently one of Robert Parker and Stephen Tanzer's most highly rated Rhone wines.
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.