Winemaker Notes
Les Olivets represents a classically provençale style of Châteauneuf, redolent with dried herbs and bright red fruit while Prestige is dense, structured and darkly fruited. Between these two styles is Didier’s Reserve, a blend of Grenache with Syrah, Mourvèdre, Syrah and Cinsault from vines between 60 and 75 years old. While Olivets comes almost entirely from gravelly, red clay soils, the Reserve also includes fruit from limestone and sandy terroirs. It is aged in foudres and 600L French oak demi-muids.
Professional Ratings
-
Jeb Dunnuck
The same blend as the Les Olivets (80% Grenache, 10% Syrah, and 10% Mourvèdre), the 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve is similarly inky ruby/purple-colored and gives up a more dense, serious, backward style in its blackberry, melted licorice, roasted herb, and graphite aromas and flavors. With terrific minerality, full body, sweet tannin, and beautiful purity, it's a seriously good 2016 that's going to benefit from 2-3 years of bottle age and drink nicely for 10-15.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Musky notes of fur, earth and violet lend seductive perfume to ripe but pristine blackberry in this stately wine. A powerful blend of 80% Grenache, 10% Syrah and 10% Mourvèdre, it’s unctuously fruity but also firmly anchored by fresh mineral tones and chewy, gripping tannins. The finish lingers on hints of coffee grinds and violet candy. Eric Solomon Selections. Editors’ Choice
-
Wine Spectator
Intense, with a core of dark plum, boysenberry and fig reduction flavors that are a bit brooding in feel, while licorice snap, roasted alder and tar notes hold sway for now. Shows a terrifically racy graphite and iron spine and a long, smoldering finish, so just let this stretch out in the cellar. Best from 2020 through 2040.
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.