Winemaker Notes
A bouquet nose of garrigue, flowers of cistus, blackcurrant buds. A mouth full of freshness and balance, with aromas of cocoa and Morello cherry, with a long and
licorice finish.
In its youth, this vintage is perfect to pair with a shoulder of lamb 12 hour cooking in oven, roast pigeon with fungi porcini and from its fifth year, stew, Daube Provencal, all game and many cheeses.
Blend: 50% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 15% Mourvèdre, and 10% Cinsault
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
One smoking good bottle of wine, the 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape is 50% Grenache, 25% Syrah, and the rest Mourvèdre, Cinsault, and Counoise that was brought up mostly in concrete tanks. It’s as drinkable and delicious as they come, offering lots of red and black fruits, dried garrigue, and spice aromatics, medium to full-bodied richness, silky tannins, and wonderful balance. It’s Provence in a bottle. Drink it over the coming 10-15 years.
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James Suckling
Plenty of blackberries, but also licorice, smoke and floral notes make this a ravishing Chateauneuf. Rich and elegant with a serious structure, but also something playful, this wine is already a joy to drink. Long, spicy and black-tea finish with so much energy. A blend of 50% grenache, 25% syrah, 15% mourvedre and 15% cinsault.
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Wine Spectator
Ripe and juicy, with a nice compact feel to the mix of raspberry compote, red licorice and red currant preserve flavors. Subtle garrigue hints dot the finish and there's a nice tarry streak as well. Needs just a touch of cellaring to coax it out fully. Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsault. Best from 2024.
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Wine & Spirits
Spicy and herbal, this has a brisk, crunchy feel to its fruit which makes it extremely palate-whetting. It’s tart and cranberry-ish, with a graphite- like minerality that firms it up. For lamb sausages.
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.