Winemaker Notes
This Single Vineyard Cuvée reveals layered hints of dark cherries, crushed raspberry, the structure is massive yet with some elegant tannins.
Blend: 60% Grenache, 39% Syrah, 1% Counoise
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Breathtaking aromas of garrigue, cracked pepper and ripe raspberries mark the nose of the 2017 Chateauneuf du Pape Les Hautes Brusquieres, a 60-40 blend of Grenache and Syrah from the galets roulés of the les Brusquières lieu-dit. Aged in a small proportion of demi-muids, with 85% remaining in wooden vats, it's full-bodied and velvety, with ample tannins and a long, concentrated finish that easily hides its 16% alcohol.
Range: 96-98 -
James Suckling
Beautifully pure, detailed and fresh, red-fruit aromas with lightly toasty oak spice. There’s such finesse, power and centrally focused fruit on the palate here; the tannins work around the edge and the core is pristine.
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Wine Enthusiast
Mesquite and cinnamon lend sweet, smoky accents to flavors of roasted plum and cherry compote in this powerhouse red. A densely concentrated blend of 60% Grenache and 40% Syrah fermented and matured in large-format wood and stainless steel tanks, it's an opulent, undulating wine wrapped up in fine, sandpaper tannins.
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Wine Spectator
Sleek and still tightly coiled, this has ample reserves of raspberry, cherry and plum pâte de fruit, along with enticing black tea, anise and apple wood accents. A suave wine, with latent minerality underscoring the finish. Grenache, Syrah and Counoise. Best from 2023.
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Decanter
A lovely nose with a distinctly herbal bitters vein running through the dark brambly fruits. Soft, svelte and yielding on the palate, the tannins have mass but are very ripe, just about balancing the high acidity and punchy alcohol. The most successful of Charbonnière's wines this year, and like all of them it will take a long time to come round, but should reward patience.
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Jeb Dunnuck
From the northern part of the appellation and a mix of Grenache, Syrah, and Counoise, the 2017 Châteauneuf Du Pape Cuvée Speciale Les Hautes Brusquières boasts a saturated purple color as well as impressive, yet closed and tight notes of dark fruits, ground pepper, and garrigue. It opens up with time in the glass, is medium to full-bodied, has loads of structured, and is another seriously impressive wine from this estate. Do your best to hide bottles for 3-4 years.
Rating: 93+
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.