Winemaker Notes
The 2015 vintage shows a deep black robe with purple hints. On the nose, the wine reveals a bouquet of very ripe red fruits along with roasted notes. Concentrated, powerful and explosive on the palate, it unfolds aromas of cherries, ripe black fruits and liquorice.
This wine will age beautifully for 8 years and can be cellared for 20-25 years.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This delivers a lush, enticing blast of cassis and raspberry and boysenberry preserve flavors, carried by a silky structure that lets the fruit play out at length, giving adequate time for black tea, singed apple wood, dried anise and fruitcake notes to fill in throughout. Dreamy. Grenache. Best from 2020 through 2040.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Made from 100% Grenache, the 2015 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes is a more opulent, hedonistic effort compared to the Renaissance and offers killer notes of plums, caramelized black cherries, spring flowers and licorice. Possessing sweet tannin, impeccable balance and a finish that won’t quit, drink it anytime over the coming 15 years or more.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
As for the reds from barrel, I found a touch of volatile acidity in all of the barrel samples, as well as a touch less exuberance and concentration than in past vintage. My favorite of the barrel samples was the 2015 Châteauneuf du Pape Vieilles Vignes, which is 100% Grenache that was completely destemmed and aged in a mix of demi-muids, new barrels and older barrels. It offers awesome notes of plums, blackberries, blueberries, garrigue and roasted meats in a sexy, even flamboyant, full-bodied style that will be hard to resist in its youth. Again, there’s a touch of volatile acidity here, but it handles it well. Range: 93-95
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James Suckling
Plenty of ripe dark berry fruits and some toasted spices with mocha. too. The palate has a wealth of sweet red plum fruit that powers a fleshy finish.
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.