O'Briens Wine Blog

One of the best-known names in wine is Châteauneuf-du-Pape; it is a byword for quality, class and frequently chosen as that special bottle for Birthday’s, anniversaries or simply meeting the future father-in-law for the first time. So what’s the appeal? Firstly there’s the name; understandably many people think Châteauneuf is one wine because of the word Château, many have heard that Châteauneuf-du-Pape is good and naturally follow that advice.

 Secondly there is the general style of the wine and its image, big heavily embossed bottles that usually start at €25 and deliver big jammy flavours, smooth rich mouthfeel and invariably high alcohol. Even the mainstream versions should give plenty of texture, big fruit and high alcohol.

What remains of the original Chateauneuf-du-Pape "Castle of the New Pope"

So is it all it’s cracked up to be? Well frankly yes; when it’s good, Châteauneuf is the best wine in Southern Rhone and truly world class but the problem is there are many Châteauneufs. It is not a single producer or Château it is a wine region. There are good producers and not so good producers within this vineyard zone and many of the less scrupulous producers will turn out masses of lesser quality wine from potentially good vineyards because they know that the name will sell the wine.

Warning bells should be beginning to ring for example if you see a “bargain” Châteauneuf; dipping below the €20 price point is not common practice for the good estates. Invariably the bad producers pass off bland, heady wines as the real thing and invariably they disappoint. Good producers know that well-made Châteauneuf commands a premium and will charge accordingly. 

So what is good Châteuneuf-du-Pape? What is the real deal, a wine that truly delivers on the promise of that much used name? Perhaps the wine-style that most fits the bill and satisfies the general expectation of Châteuneuf is the big, dark fruited, intelligently oaked “modern style”. Estates that pick ripe grapes that generally increase the percentage of Syrah and age the wine in smaller format oak barrels. 

From all our tastings in the last year the wine that has stood up and declared itself “The Real Deal” is Domaine des Sénéchaux 2007. It epitomizes everything that is great about Châteuneuf, even though it’s a big wine with masses of fruit and oak there is tremendous purity to the fruit and fine acidity holding everything in balance. It is one hell of a wine that is going to provide sublime drinking for a decade or two. 

So if anyone has ever felt cheated by blousy, alcoholic, dilute tasting Chateauneuf go out and try Sénéchaux and see what all the fuss is about; this is the real deal. 

We were fortunate to taste and select the wine just before it scooped two of the biggest awards in the wine world; Trophy at the Decanter World Wine Awards and a Gold Medal at the International Wine Challenge. 

      94 Points 

This entry was posted on Friday, June 11th, 2010 at 2:35 pm and is filed under Wine News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.