Winemaker Notes
#6 Wine Enthusiast Top 100 of 2020
Nose, garrigue bouquet, cistus flower, blackcurrant buds, all in mouth fresh and balanced, with aromas of cocoa and cherry, with a long finish and licorice.
In its youth, this vintage is perfect to pair with a shoulder of lamb slow roasted in oven, roast pigeon with porcini mushroom, and from its fifth year, stew, Daube Provencal, all game and many cheeses.
Blend: 50% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 15% Mourvedre, 10% Cinsault
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Whiffs of dried strawberry and cherry mingle into darker notes of smoke and spice in this perfumed blend of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsault. A luscious, voluminous sip, it floods the palate with primary cherry and raspberry flavors but also a crush of minerals too. This readily approachable wine with fine, silky tannins should gain earthier complexities through 2030
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Wine Spectator
Warm and lush, with dark plum, blackberry and raspberry compote flavors rolling through, wrapped in black licorice notes and carried by a light tarry edge on the finish. Enjoyable up front, but has the stuffing for cellaring. Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsault. Drink now through 2035.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Starting with the 2017 Châteauneuf Du Pape (50% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 5% Cinsault, and 5% Counoise), it offers ruby/purple color as well as an incredibly polished, elegant, medium-bodied style as well as red plum and blueberry fruits intermixed with violets, spring flowers, and pepper. Seamless, silky, and polished on the palate, with fine tannins and perfect balance, readers could do much worse than to have a case of this in the cellar.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Very much a classic representative of the appellation, Solitude's 2017 Chateauneuf du Pape is full-bodied and generous, lush and creamy through the mid-palate, then firming up slightly on the finish. Cola, spice and cherry flavors mingle easily, finishing long and savory. The assemblage is 50% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 15% Mourvèdre and 5% each Cinsault and Counoise, with aging in concrete tank (90%) and foudres (10%).
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.