2019 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Classique
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Tasting Notes
Bold purple in colour, this 2019 jumps out of the glass with heady aromas of blackberry, cherry and dark fruit. Intensely peppery and spicy, it’s so inviting – full of youthful exuberance at this stage. With a deliciously intense mouth-feel, all the fruit and spice from the nose is transported to the palate. The tannins are ripe and the acidity balancing. While still developing, even now it is moreish. Given a few years, the forest floor and secondary flavours will push through to complement the excellent fruit and acidity. Domaine Saint-Préfert know what they are doing and the Cuvée Classique is a real Châteauneuf-du-Pape of pure pleasure, while also being very sophisticated.
Critic Scores
Average Score
Jeb Dunnuck
Josh Raynolds, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The tank-aged 2019 Chateauneuf du Pape is 85% Grenache, with the balance equally divided among Cinsault, Mourvèdre and Syrah. Scents of ripe cherries and cola spice emerge on the nose, while the palate is full-bodied, concentrated and richly textured, with a long finish marked by softly dusty tannins. Tasted twice (once blind), with the wine at the estate seeming darker and more tannic—and perhaps a bit longer lived—than the red-fruited, silky perception when tasted blind, but both given identical ratings.
With a solid depth of color, the wine is lusciously textured, ripe, sweet, fresh and spicy. There is a gorgeous sense of purity and along with balance and intensity, finishing with a blend of olive tapenade, black raspberries, dark cherries and kirsch.
Melted licorice, plum sauce, cherry purée and black tea notes all meld into a silky, suave and seamlessly-textured wine that leaves a subtle echo of lavender at the very end. Grenache, Cinsault, Syrah and Mourvèdre. Drink now through 2032. 8,304 cases made, 692 cases imported.
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About the producer
Domaine Saint-Préfert was one of Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s leading names, known for crafting some of the region’s most elegant wines. The wines are now bottled under the Famille Isabel Ferrando name.