Winemaker Notes
#15 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2025
Claire Michel's 2022 Le Vieux Donjon Rouge is showing the classic notes we've come to know and love thanks to a great growing season in Chateauneuf. Brightly colored, almost pinot-like, the nose features violets, cracked black pepper and dark red. On the palate, crunchy red fruit with nice acidity start things off thanks to Donjon's high proportion of fruit from their vines in the 'Pialons' lieu-dit. The middle and finish feature elegant tannins, more of the same spices we found on the nose and wraps up with dense black cherry and currant. A textbook Chateauneuf if there was one!
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Enjoyably fresh and fluid style, good acidity, with lip-smacking raspberry and strawberry fruit. Good feeling of lift and drinkability considering the extreme vintage conditions. Elegant, fine tannins. Fermented in concrete vats, then aged in concrete and old foudres.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2022 Châteauneuf-du-Pape from Le Vieux Donjon is a beautifully balanced, classic expression of the appellation, as well as this estate. It has a vivid purple hue, with ripe berry fruits, peppery herbs, floral, and sandalwood-like aromatics. Medium to full-bodied, it’s seamless and elegant on the palate, with ultra-fine tannins and a great finish. This is a brilliant wine that’s already drinking well
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Wine Spectator
An excellent example of classic Châteauneuf richness that shows good balance and energy. Juicy black raspberry, licorice and ganache are wrapped around a ballast of graphite shavings, while the refined structure reins in the warm, mouthcoating palate. Hints of grilled herbs, brown bread and lavender smoke detail the long, textured and mineral-rich finish. Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsault.
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James Suckling
A well-crafted, balanced and refined red. This has notes of sweet cherries, dried herbs, red berries and mild spices. Medium- to full-bodied with fine yet firm tannins. Juicier at the center with a solid frame of tannins coating the palate at this stage. Bright fruit with plenty of vitality in the long, peppery finish.
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.