2016 Chateauneuf du Pape Not For You
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Tasting notes
Deep ruby-red. A highly complex bouquet evokes red fruit preserves, exotic spices, candied flowers and garrigue, and a vibrant mineral flourish gains power with air. Shows superb power as well as finesse, offering vibrant raspberry, bitter cherry, lavender pastille and spicecake flavors that turn deeper and sweeter on the back half. Shows wonderful delineation and intense mineral lift on a gently tannic finish that hangs on with outstanding, floral- and spice-driven persistence. Made with 100% whole clusters and raised in tronconic concrete tanks.
Critic scores
Average Score
Josh Raynolds, Vinous
Joe Czerwinski, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
Finally in the bottle after close to 30 months in barrel, the 2016 Chateauneuf du Pape Not For You—100% Grenache planted in 1909—is a big, oversized wine that somehow retains intricate herbal and fresh-fruit notes. Hints of black tea accent black cherries on the nose, while the full-bodied palate is lush and warm yet finishes with briny intensity and outstanding length. Unfortunately, only a single barrique was produced.
From 100% Old Vine Grenache, this is pure, bottled intensity. Extremely sweet and a bit jammy on in the nose, the packs 2 bottles of wine into 1. Thick, dense, full bodied and multi layered, the wine coats your mouth, teeth gums and palate. There is a purity of fruit that is impossible not to get. But there is also a massive wall of fruit that might not be for everyone, but I have to say, I was blown away! The wine reached a whopping 17.2% ABV. There is a touch of heat, but there is so much fruit, you might not notice it. This unique expression of Chateauneuf du Pape is not for everyone. It is in the same style as the special cuvee from Henri Bonneau.