Winemaker Notes
What makes the Réservé so singular? Very old vines, low yields and a natural winemaking approach makes the bases, but it's in the microclimate of the north facing terroir of slopes that it forges its character.
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
Lastly, the 2020 Châteauneuf du Pape Reserve is probably the wine of the vintage. You're not going to find a richer, more concentrated wine out there, especially one that's also flawlessly balanced and as seamless as they come. Almost all Grenache from a single parcel of sandy soils, brought up in foudre, its dense purple hue is followed by a mammoth-sized bouquet of black and blue fruits, herbes de Provence, graphite, ground pepper, and liquid violets. Full-bodied, powerful, and opulent on the palate, it has building yet sweet tannins, remarkable purity of fruit, and a huge mid-palate, all of which give it some approachability even today. Nevertheless, this incredible wine deserves 4-6 years of bottle age and will cruise for two decades in cold cellars.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Réservé is a powerful yet multidimensional Châteauneuf-du-Pape, revealing a dense, complex bouquet of dark cherries, garrigue, spices, dark wild berries and flowers, with subtle notes of bay leaf and coniferous forest. Full-bodied, dense and opulent, it's sappy and enrobing, with structured, velvety tannins and a fleshy, dense core of fruit, showcasing remarkable purity and depth, leading to a long, spicy, and seemingly endless finish.
-
Decanter
Pure, lively black cherry, liquorice and violet; not huge in the mouth, but extraordinary concentration for the vintage. It's dense, with sweet tannins and great surging acidity. Clearly the alcohol is high, but you don't taste it as it's remarkably well-balanced, elegant, fine and incredibly intense: opulent without oak or artifice. Selection from Les Trois Sources, their oldest Grenache, and only produced when the Grenache is good enough.
-
Vinous
The 2020 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve is a seductive wine of mindboggling intensity, bursting with vivid redcurrant, strawberry, licorice, mint, white pepper, exotic spices and crushed rock aromas. Full-bodied, highly expressive, wrapped in ripe tannins and extremely well-balanced despite all the horsepower this is a terrific wine built for decades to come. Like in 2019, only 2,900 bottles were produced.
-
Wine Spectator
A blockbuster that maintains form and definition despite its massive heft. Dense and dark, with chewy notes of sweet cassis, violet and perfectly ripe fig, all laced with leafy tobacco on a foundation of solid iron. The oak has nicely retreated into the backdrop, and a salty beam of succulent acidity washes through. Manages to stay pure, balanced and lively even with a high alcohol level. Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre.
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.