2010 Chateauneuf du Pape
Buying options
Tasting Notes
On another level, the 2010 Chateauneuf du Pape is rock-star stuff, and is probably my favorite vintage from this estate to date. Deeply colored, it boasts masculine, meaty aromas and flavors of smoked herbs, pepper, licorice, lavender, crushed rock and blackberries to go with a full-bodied, concentrated and rich style on the palate. There’s ample tannin here, yet they’re sweet and beautifully integrated. Give it another handful of years and drink it over the following two decades. ||Another bastillion of traditional Chateauneuf du Pape, Vieux Donjon is owned by Lucien and Marie Jose Michel, with the winemaking now firmly in the hands of their talented daughter, Claire Michel. They produce a single red and white Chateauneuf du Pape, with the red always a rough blend of 75% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 10% Mourvedre and the balance a mix of other permitted varieties. They started partial destemming in 1993, pulling out the green stems and keeping the more lignified stems. Aging occurs all in concrete tanks and older foudre. This was a fabulous tasting with both Claire and her brother Francois, and as I hope the notes show, the wines have classic Chateauneuf du Pape character and broad drink windows. eRobertParker.com.August, 2014
Critic Scores
Average Score
Jeb Dunnuck
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
The 2010 Chateauneuf du Pape is a traditionally made cuvee aged totally in tank and foudre. Its inky/purple color is followed by a sweet bouquet of black olives, incense, blackberries, mulberries, black cherries and lavender. This perfumed, super-concentrated 2010 possesses good acidity, ripe tannin and a full-bodied, expansive mouthfeel. This mouth-coating, saturated, dense Chateauneuf du Pape has plenty of tannin to shed, so give it 3-4 years of cellaring, and drink it over the following two decades. Oct 2012, www.erobertparker.com