Winemaker Notes
Les Galimardes comes from old vines of Grenache and Syrah planted on clay limestone soils covered with galets in the lieu-dit of Galimardes south of the village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Each variety is harvested and fermented separately – concrete tanks for the Grenache and 225L French oak barrels for the Syrah – before blending and bottling.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape Les Gallimardes reveals a dense purple/plum color as well as a ripe, decadent bouquet of ripe black cherries, fruit cake, ground pepper, and garrigue. This carries to a full-bodied 2019 revealing wonderful fruit, ripe yet building tannins, and a great finish. It shows the more savory, Provençal style of the vintage nicely and has beautiful fruit as well as a great finish. It's going to need 4-5 years of bottle age and keep for two decades.
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Wine Spectator
This captures the ripe, flattering fruit of the vintage but keeps a sense of freshness better than most. Delivers a core of raspberry reduction and plum coulis notes that sail through, flecked with floral, red licorice and apple wood accents along the way before ending with focus and clarity on the mineral-tinged finish. Grenache and Syrah. Best from 2023.
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.