Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
There’s a beautiful freshness to this tasty red, which displays an invigorating base of pomegranate, ripe cherry and floral perfume notes. Silky and long, this offers good density driven by graphite, with notes of smoke and wood spice in the background. Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre. Drink now through 2035.
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Decanter
Attractive violet, raspberry and bergamot nose – a very pleasing, scented style. Soft, mouthfilling, concentrated and generous; this has an inner core of freshness that makes for an enjoyably lifted style. Lightly grippy tannins.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The classic cuvée from this great estate, the 2021 Châteauneuf Du Pape Tradition checks in as 60% Grenache, 35% Syrah, and the balance Mourvèdre. Perfumed notes of blackberries, framboise, herbes de Provence, and pepper all shine in this medium-bodied, elegant, very pretty, nuanced Châteauneuf du Pape. I love its balance, it shows the fresher, focused style of the vintage, and it will evolve for a decade.
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Vinous
The 2021 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Tradition is all concrete-tank-aged, unwinding with delicate orange blossom, raspberry, strawberry, minty nuances and a dash of dried herbs. Smoothtextured and balanced by bright acidity.
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.