Domaine Saint Prefert Chateauneuf-du-Pape Reserve Auguste Favier 2016
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#90 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2018
Blend: 80% Grenache and 20% Cinsault.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This is beautifully rendered, with a core of focused red currant, plum and raspberry coulis flavors that stretches out nicely while flecks of tobacco, bergamot, and singed sandalwood weave around. A bolt of iron detail shows through the finish, with a light echo of worn leather. Well-built, showing ample energy in reserve. Best from 2020 through 2040.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A blend of 85% Grenache and 15% Cinsault, the 2016 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve Auguste Favier boasts enchanting floral aromas, intoxicating raspberry and cherry fruit and enthralling hints of Swiss cocoa. Full-bodied, rich and velvety, it nevertheless comes across as fresh and nearly weightless. The use of stems (the wine is all whole bunches) and an elevated proportion of Cinsault has certainly contributed to this wine's soaring aromas and sense of freshness. It's a fascinating wine.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Incredibly perfumed and complex, the 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve Auguste Favier has put on weight since I tasted it as a barrel sample and offers full-bodied notes of currants, Asian spices, dried flowers, and lavender. It's powerful, concentrated and layered, yet always light on its feet and beautifully balanced, with a seamless, elegant texture as well as the purity of fruit that's the hallmark of this great vintage. It's a rock star wine from this terrific estate that's going to drink beautifully for two decades.
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Wine Enthusiast
Smoky and floral, this perfumed blend of 85% Grenache and 15% Cinsault suggests ripe, fleshy blackberry and raspberry flavors. While plush in texture, crisp granitic tones and fine-grained, densely packed tannins lend an upright feel. Expect peak from 2020 through 2026. David Bowler Wine.
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Isabel Ferrando bought the Domaine Saint Prefert and vinified for the first time in 2003. The estate is situated on the south side of the village of Chateauneuf-du-Pape atop gravel and pebble soils.
Domaine Saint Prefert produces wines epitomizing the Provencal region. Herbs such as garrigue, thyme and rosemary abound. Grenache is expressed in notes of candied fruit, chocolate and roasted coffee.
Isabel Ferrando farms organically. She expanded her holdings and built a new state-of-the-art winery in 2009. Isabel's mentality is to never stop improving: "The substantial work done in the vineyards over the past eight years brings us ever closer to the level of quality that I seek. Progress is ahead of us."
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.