2020 Clos Solene Hommage A Nos Pairs Reserve
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
The 2020 Hommage à nos Pairs opens with a beguiling blend of autumnal spice, rich plum sauce and rubbed sage. It flows like velvet across the palate, seamless in nature, ushering in an opulent wave of ripe black fruits and inner herbal tones, all guided by brisk acidity. A mentholated freshness marks the finale, as gently grippy tannins add a crunchy feel, tapering with sour blackberry and a tooth-coating concentration. Hommage à nos Pairs is a co-fermented blend of 96% Syrah, 2% Grenache and 2% Viognier refined for twenty-two months in 60% French new oak.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
A blend of 96% Syrah, 2% Grenache and 2% Viogner matured in 60% new oak, the 2020 Hommage à nos Pairs Reserve has a deep ruby-purple color and delicate, slightly muted scents of blackcurrants, blueberries, earth and graphite. The medium-bodied palate is soft and delicate with a juicy finish. It's missing the depth and detail, and it feels marked by the challenges of the vintage.
Very impressive depth here with sweet dark berries, bacon fat, asphalt and some Mediterranean herbs to the nose. Medium- to full-bodied on the palate showing beautiful, fruit-loaded tannins and a long, spicy finish. 96% syrah, 2% grenache and 2% viognier. Effortlessly drinkable, but will hold well.
Not yet bottled, the 2020 Hommage A Nos Pairs offers lots of ripe blackcurrants, chocolate, and tobacco-like aromatics. These carry to a powerful, concentrated blend with ripe yet mouth-coating tannins, good freshness, and outstanding length. This cuvée is always Syrah-dominated, and the 2020 is 96% Syrah and 2% each of Viognier and Grenache. It was barrel fermented and is still aging in 60% new French oak. Vigneron Guillaume Fabre continues to make brilliant wines under his Clos Solene label. While he’s planted numerous new vineyards on his estate, he also pulls fruit from Santa Maria and releases those wines under his Cuvee Jean bottlings.