2017 Domaine de la Vieille Julienne Châteauneuf-du-Pape les Hauts Lieux
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Tasting notes
Brilliant violet. Ripe dark fruit, floral and exotic spice aromas, along with suggestions of licorice and smoky minerals. Chewy and focused on entry and then more fluid in the midpalate, offering liqueur-like bitter cherry, blackberry and boysenberry flavors and a hint of succulent herbs. Closes very long and precise, with resonating floral and spice notes and steadily building tannins lending final grip.
Critic scores
Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com
Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider
More reviews and scores
The 2017 Châteauneuf Du Pape Les Hauts-Lieux comes from slightly higher elevation sites and includes more Mourvèdre than the Les Trois Source release. It’s pure, full-bodied, and incredibly structured, with a tight, backward style that’s going to benefit from bottle age. Showing a distinct salty minerality as well as loads of black and blue fruits, it reminds me of the 2015 yet with more elegance. Hide bottles for 4-5 years and enjoy over the following two decades.
Cask sample. A touch of desiccation to the fruit, giving a porty, raisined quality to the nose. Plummy, dark, intense fruit with a lovely graphite character giving complexity. Fearsome tannin and grip, but not too much weight and heat. In fact, there is very respectable acidic crispness. Will take a long while for the tannins to relax and the fruit to evolve. (RH)