Winemaker Notes
Floral nose with black berries and spices. A mouth with aromas of cassis, bouquet of garrigue. It is an elegant and refined wine, tannic while remaining fresh.
Blend: 25% Grenache, 22% Serine, 20% Counoise, 20% Mourvedre, 7% Cinsault, 3% Clairette, 2% Clairette Rose, 1% Roussanne, Picpoul, and Bourboulenc
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Always one of the most singular wines in a vintage, the 2023 Châteauneuf Du Pape Vin De La Solitude comes from the la Solitude lieu-dit on 50% galets roulés and 50% sandy safre soils. Based on 25% Grenache, 22% Syrah, 20% each Mourvèdre and Counoise, 7% Cinsault, 2% Clairette Rose, and 4% other permitted varieties, it was vinified with whole clusters in truncated tanks and aged 15 months entirely in neutral barrels. It offers meaty black cherries, black olives, roasted garrigue, and Provençal spice, reminding me of a street market in the south of France with its meaty, complex, incredibly Provençal style. Medium to full-bodied, it has building tannins and outstanding length.
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Wine Spectator
A supple and perfumy version, with an expressive mix of red plum, rooibos tea and sandalwood smoke. Salty, sanguine tones move in, and everything is grounded by wet paving stone and graphite. The tannins are glossy, with just a hint of graininess on the bitter-edged finish. Finessed and delicious. Counoise, Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, Cinsaut, Clairette, Bourboulenc, Roussanne and Roussanne. Drink now through 2035. 250 cases made, 100 cases imported.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2023 Chateauneuf du Pape Vin de la Solitude appears riper and slightly more oxidative than the 2022, showing a somewhat evolved profile at this early stage. It opens with aromas of oak, spices, dried plums and baked dark berries. Medium- to full-bodied, dense and concentrated, it boasts a rich core of fruit and chewy tannins, leading to a long, spicy finish. Abundantly tannic and marked by its oak, this blend of several grape varieties was matured in used barrels, but the overall impression leans toward excess, with ripeness and wood somewhat overpowering finesse.
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.