2012 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Special
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Tasting notes
100% old-vine Grenache from vines that are close to 110 years of age. This wine is made using the whole cluster. Aged in a combination of new (mostly) and used French oak barrels for 24 months. The production is just 1,000 cases per year of this wine. Sweet nose, almost a note of toffee, but firmer, more savoury and drier on the palate with spice and rich fruit. Fine but still definite tannins. Long. (JH)
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
Bright violet color. Intensely perfumed, lucid red berry and cherry aromas are complemented by hints of anise, allspice and candied lavender. Silky, sweet and expansive, offering vibrant raspberry and floral pastille flavors and a suggestion of spicecake. Shows a darker side on the long, sappy finish, which leaves a note of blackberry liqueur behind. Pretty suave stuff and flat-out delicious now, but with plenty of upside for cellaring as well.
Opaque ruby. Heady scents of red fruit preserves, potpourri and anise, with sexy Asian spice nuances building in the glass. Sweet, high-pitched and sharply focused, conveying a seductive, juicy quality to its black raspberry, mineral and lavender pastille flavors. Finishes long and sappy, with smooth tannins and a lingering floral element.
Pale rim on a crimson core. Very sweet, treacly and jewelly but more animal and less fresh than the Vieilles Vignes. Certainly very particular but possibly less typical of the appellation as a whole. GV (JR)
About the producer
Product details
Grenache/ Garnacha , Syrah / Shiraz, Mourvedre/Monastrell/Mataro, Cinsault
Red
Dry