Winemaker Notes
Ruby color with a violet sheen. Marked by its terroir on the nose with spices, black pepper, lavender, black cherries and blackberries. Elegant, well-balanced, full-bodied, and powerful with persistent notes of red fruit and garrigue. This wine offers a great tasting pleasure.
Enjoy with braised meat with black olives, beef tartare with bearnaise sauce, foil truffle foie gras, or chocolate cake.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
A classic nose brings together black cherry and blueberry with iris, rose and white pepper, all wrapped into a concentrated whole. The palate is round and rich, with ripe, dense fruit easing into spice, white pepper, and red licorice. Best revisited after 2028.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Based on 90% Grenache and 10% Syrah and aged 18 months in a mix of demi-muids, neutral barrels, and terra cotta jars, the 2024 Châteauneuf Du Pape reveals juicy black cherry and blackberry fruits, ground pepper, spring flowers, and violets, with some subtle spicy, dried herb undertones. It's nicely balanced, medium-bodied, has fine tannins, and a good finish.
Barrel Sample: 90-92 -
Wine Spectator
A fresh, juicy style, with bouncy licorice and crunchy plum powered by a beam of graphite-laced acidity. Touches of lavender and herbs add dimension. Shows good inner brightness; this is a pure and unadulterated style, with a slight whiff of apple wood smoke on the finish. Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre. Drink now through 2039.
Located in Châteauneuf-du-Pape since 1931, the Brotte family own 3 exceptional estates in the Southern Rhone Valley. Here, Grenache is king and flourishes with its expressive fruit and is masterfully blended with Syrah and Mourvedre to add freshness and structure. Focused on protecting the environment, all Brotte Family estates are certified Sustainable by the Terra Vitis organization. As well as estate-grown wines, Maison Brotte collaborates with other growers to produce top quality wines from other appellations, including Condrieu, Côte Rôtie, Gigondas and Côtes de Provence. Their entire portfolio is consistently highly rated by the industries top publications and always reliable.
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.