Winemaker Notes
Le Secret des Sabon began as an experimental cuvée and which has evolved to be one of the top wines of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. With only about a single demi-muid produced each year, from presumably old vines with their correspondingly low yields, there isn’t much to go around. It is quite surprising to taste Secret after the Cuvée Prestige, as one normally expects the “top” win of the estate to be the biggest, but this is a red herring. While there is an unmistakably glyceryl weight to Le Secret, it is more high-toned than you would initially expect. Red fruit predominates with stony and herbal accents that hint at a long life ahead. If we had to guess, we’d say that it is primarily Grenache and that it bears the hallmarks of a sandy terroir, but given the reticence of Didier and the generally more ethereal house style here, this is pure speculation.
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
While the 2018 Châteauneuf Du Pape Le Secret Des Sabon isn’t going to match the 2016 and 2017, it’s nevertheless a beautiful wine that’s a candidate for the wine of the vintage. A fabulous perfume of black raspberry and cassis fruits as well as notes of peppery garrigue, smoked game, and Asian spices flow to a full-bodied, beautifully concentrated, ripe, yet also seamless 2018 that has more depth, richness, and length than just about every other wine in the vintage. A field blend of mostly Grenache brought up in foudre, this sensational Châteauneuf du Pape can be enjoyed anytime over the coming 15 years or more.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Almost entirely Grenache from two old-vine parcels that include more sand than the domaine's other plots, the 2018 Chateauneuf du Pape le Secret de Sabon is intoxicating just to smell—not because of the alcohol levels, but because of the enveloping aromas that combine rose petals and lavender with apricots and black cherries and drizzles them all with wisps of dark chocolate and coffee. It's full-bodied but paradoxically light in feel, with silky, gossamer-like tannins that give the wine a pillowy shape and feel on the palate, then linger elegantly on the long finish
-
Wine Spectator
This offers a fairly direct core of black currant and blackberry paste flavors mixed with tobacco, warm earth and alder accents. A tarry edge holds the finish in place as the fruit courses through.
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.