Châteauneuf: 5 estates at their peak!

Ask any wine lover for three great estates in Châteauneuf-du-Pape and you're pretty sure you'll hear the same ones over and over again, not without reason, but as the years go by, one generation follows another and the wines evolve, sometimes improve. At a time when communication has taken over wine tasting, La Tulipe Rouge wanted to take a look back at a generation of winemakers who were able to continue a tradition of excellence while bringing the knowledge and aesthetic benefits of their time. This generation of winemakers is the generation of discretion. One that prefers to keep quiet while waiting to find its place. Rather than trying to break new ground, this generation has built its identity and is now asserting itself with all the power of hardened experience. Let's take a look back at these paths, so different yet so close, which remind us, if we needed to, that Châteauneuf-du-Pape is a land of great wines.

There are no bad vintages, just different ones

This statement conceals a more subtle reality. Beyond the regularity of a wine estate, which, in the tumult of the vintages, knows how to find the quietude of the right wine, the best possible wine, there is the idea of the wine to be discovered forever, the wine-piece that we never stop discovering. Not everything can resemble the exceptional 2016, 1990 and 1978. But everything should encourage us to salute the more modest 2012s, 2006s and 2003s that we are now savoring with relish. Rather half-body, bearing the signature of the vintage, these wines of the shadows are much more than "winemakers' wines" to use the usual expression. They are wine drinkers' wines! In other words, they are the wines we should be drinking today – and 2016, the one we should be passing on to our children (unless you were born in 2016...)! But in this day and age, the exceptional can't wait: you have to drink it to say you drank it! Too bad for future generations, they won't know Châteauneuf wines. Because that's what it's all about: the "great" vintage is a messenger in time, while the "small" vintage is a messenger in space, helping to bring the greatness of Châteauneuf wines to as many people as possible. We marvel at the radiant 1990's and are moved by the 1978's excellent ageing potential, simply because there are still 1990's and 1978's to be tasted. If you remember that Châteauneuf is not an appellation like the others, it's because your parents, a friend or a winegrower (or your own patience!) have helped you taste 30- or 50-year-old wines, not because you've swallowed a 2016*! And if you don't have wine-loving parents or friends, there are some absolutely remarkable 2012s, 2006s and even 2003s that today, with the same precision as the "great" years, deliver the substance of Châteauneuf, namely that blend of power and finesse, breadth without heaviness, and perfumes ennobled by the patina of age, a mixture of faded roses and Havana. Because a wine is also pleasure, we'll finally be able to revel in the sweetness that is not sugar, but the richness of a fruit gorged with sun and garrigue, of which Grenache is the emblem.

*It's true that an excellent Châteauneuf 2016, like any great wine, is delicious in its youth. In this case, the wine lover should buy 12 bottles. Six to quench his thirst and six more for posterity.

When weakness becomes quality

The winegrower’s art lies in this transformation of a material marred by the stigma of the vintage. Not the destruction of an undesirable asperity or the make-up of a weakness that would distort the typical profile, but rather the acceptance and then the construction around this pitfall of an assumed and singularly aesthetic wine. To say that 2012 is "vegetal" is also to admit that 2012 is delicate by construction and with age, that this "vegetal" becomes "black tea", "patchouli" or "garrigue", that this "vegetal" finally becomes bitter, thus complexifying the sensations on the finish. Of course, it's all a question of proportion and balance – that's the art of the winegrower. On the other hand, 2003, the year of the heat wave (and a winter without water, already), taught us that we don't know much about wine ageing. Buried as soon as it was born, more through ignorance than experience, this vintage today reveals wines of a certain elegance that surprise wine lovers and winegrowers alike.

Table wines

Forget thirst-quenching or easy-to-drink wines. At Châteauneuf, we make table wines, meaning wines for eating. This doesn't mean you can't quench your thirst with a glass of white Châteauneuf or enjoy the minty freshness of a mature red Châteauneuf. No, it's more a question of highlighting the propensity of Châteauneuf wine to accompany all kinds of cuisine, depending on the grape variety or blend, the year or the cuvée. With 13 grape varieties, a composite vineyard and an ever-richer range of wines, Châteauneuf has everything it takes to satisfy the most daring culinary experiments. During our tastings, we ventured a few ideas. However, we leave it to the wine-lover's imagination to come up with their own. Enjoy your reading.

Olivier Borneuf

Vertical tasting of Châteauneuf red wines

- First of all, let's remember that these 5 estates are not an exhaustive list, but an extract of the appellation's discreet and passionate talents. May this article arouse the reader's curiosity, but also the desire to go further!

- The winegrowers were free to choose the vintages according to their own history and, above all, their own reserve!

- The score out of 100 gives an idea of the quality of the bottle opened on the day of the tasting, and should therefore be interpreted as a trend, not a fixed certainty about the vintage!