Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2017 Châteauneuf Du Pape Secret De Barville ratchets the intensity up a notch and is full-bodied, concentrated, and flamboyant, with loads of ripe black fruits, chocolate, garrigue, and peppery aromas and flavors. A blend of 75% Grenache, 15% Syrah, and 10% Mourvèdre, brought up in old barrels and stainless steel, it's stacked and packed, with serious amounts of fruit and texture, yet it's also balanced and pure
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Wine Enthusiast
Whiffs of strawberry and red-cherry preserves are edged by tobacco leaf, cinnamon and clove in this silky blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre. Matured 18 months in one-year-old oak barrels, it's a subtle, spicy red with a deep core of redcurrant and berry flavors. Pliant, feathery tannins make it ready to drink now but the wine is concentrated enough to improve through 2030 and hold longer still. Editors' Choice.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
There are only 500 cases of the 2017 Chateauneuf du Pape Secret Barville, a barrel-aged blend of 75% Grenache, 15% Syrah and 10% Mourvèdre. It's super ripe and chocolaty, with modest cooked-fruit flavors, a broad, expansive mouthfeel, ample weight and some warmth on the finish. Tasted twice (once blind), with consistent notes.
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.