2016 Chateauneuf du Pape Les Sablons
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Tasting notes
100% Grenache from young vines in the Guigasse and Pignan vineyards. Heady, medicinal nose – perhaps a hint of acetone? Simple red fruit on the nose, becoming savoury and severe on the palate. Very hard acidity, which doesn't fit the structural balance, leaving it oddly skinny. (RH)
Critic scores
Average Score
Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com
Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
Deep shimmering red. Powerful red fruit preserve, spicecake and floral oil scents are sharpened by a mineral flourish that builds in the glass. Sweet and expansive on the palate, offering juicy black raspberry, cherry and lavender pastille flavors and exotic allspice and star anise notes. Smooth and energetic on the finish, which features rounded tannins and lingering red berry preserve character.
This estate has been on fire recently, and these 2016s might just be the best yet. The entry-level cuvée is the 100% Grenache 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Les Sablons, a blend of the La Guigasse and Le Grand Pin terroirs. It has lots of garrigue and sappy herbs as well as bright red fruits, high acidity, and a balanced, elegant texture. Owned by importer Peter Weygandt, with the wines made by Baptiste Grangeon (of Domaine Cristia), Chapelle Saint Theodoric focuses on two terroirs (Pignan and Guigasse) of sandy soils. The wines are never destemmed and spend upward of two years in neutral demi-muids. These are classic, elegant, singular wines, and if there’s anything out there coming close to the style perfected by the Reynaud family at Rayas, this is it.