Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The dense ruby/purple-colored, full-bodied 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape Cotes Capelan is an outrageously rich, complex wine exhibiting beautiful creme de cassis, kirsch, licorice, forest floor, and spring flower-like aromas. It is fresh, voluptuous, and opulent in the mouth, but the fresh acids and vibrancy give it exceptional precision as well as a refreshing style despite its weight, richness, and length. This is a superb, young Chateauneuf du Pape from an up-and-coming star of the appellation.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2007 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Cotes Capelan is the top wine from winemaker Stephane Vedeau and is mostly Grenache from a parcel named “Côtes Capelan”. This sexy, opulent and incredibly perfumed beauty gives up loads of kirsch, incense, licorice and lavender aromas and flavors. It’s unquestionably a big wine, yet it’s remarkable fresh and lively, with good acids, and seamless texture, loads of fruit and a clean finish. It needs an hour in the decant to shows at its best, and easily has another decade of prime drinking [from 2017].
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Wine Spectator
A ripe, fruit-forward, modern style, with the raspberry ganache, blueberry paste and blackberry confiture notes showing a slightly jammy edge, all backed by hints of anise and melted licorice.
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.