Shop Wine

wines

The 2006 Chateauneuf du Pape is one of the two or three candidates for the wine of the vintage. An extraordinarily great wine, the 2006 is far superior to the 2005, which was amazing, and while made in a different style, is as great as the 2003, and such legends as 1990 and 1978. Fashioned from a minuscule 21 hectoliters per hectare, and tipping the scales at 15.2% natural alcohol, the 2006 boasts a dense ruby/purple color to the rim, in addition to an extraordinary bouquet of melted licorice, spring flowers, raspberries, black currants, spice box, and earth. In the mouth, it is utterly profound – full-bodied and multidimensional with astonishing purity, length, equilibrium, and intensity. This is a superb vintage for the Avrils, and Vincent deserves huge accolades for producing a wine of such incredible intensity and complexity. Think of Clos des Papes as a Chateauneuf du Pape with the complexity of a top-notch grand cru Burgundy from the Cote de Nuits.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 98 RPI’m not sure what Paul Avril did to get this amount of density in 2006 Clos des Papes but it’s head and shoulders above any other 2006 I’ve had in terms of sheer extract and structure. The nose gives up rich raspberry and black cherry aromas mixed with spice, graphite, minerals and licorice. The palate is full bodied, massively structured and concentrated with amazing depth, perfect balance and a tannic, blockbuster finish. This needs time.Jeb Dunnuck | 97 JDFoudre #1 ("the fine one," according to Avril): Bright red. Intense strawberry and raspberry on the nose, with subtle garrigue and minerals adding complexity. Silky red fruit flavors show seductive spice and floral pastille qualities. Finishes with great persistence. Foudre #2 ("the tannic one"): Ruby-red. Bright red fruit aromas, with a deep undercurrent of licorice adding seriousness. The palate shows very spicy bitter cherry and dark berry liqueur flavors, chewy tannic grip and a long, vibrant finish. If this is Avril's idea of tannic in 2006, the final wine should be a supple beauty. Foudre #3 ("the concentrated one," from 80-year-old vines cropped at15 hl/ha): Inky ruby. Rich cherry and cassis aromas, with a deep tapenade quality adding complexity. Sappy, sweet and packing major dark berry punch, this clocks in at 16.5% alcohol, but there's no obvious heat. An approximate blend: "I hate doing this, but why not," said Avril, who doesn't believe that on-the-spot blends are accurate reflections of what winds up in the bottle. But this was his idea, not mine! Dark ruby. Powerful kirsch and blackcurrant aromas, with exotic licorice and fresh floral character expanding with air. Pliant dark berry and bitter cherry flavors carry through the long, sappy finish. A balanced, sweet powerhouse from this vantage point, with the concentration to age for at least a decade or two.Vinous Media | 97 VMThis has terrific purity, with a stunningly pure beam of cassis holding sway over fruitcake, melted licorice and incense notes. Shows impressive density for the vintage, but this is suave, elegant and seamless through the finish, with terrific underlying minerality. Best from 2009 through 2030. 7,165 cases made.Wine Spectator | 95 WS

No such issue exists with the perfect 2010 Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage a Jacques Perrin. I don’t know what more a wine could offer. Inky blue/purple, with an extraordinary nose of smoked duck, grilled steaks, Provencal herbs, blackberries, blueberries, kirsch, licorice and truffle, enormously massive, concentrated, full-bodied and built for 30-50 years of cellaring, this wine, which is dominated by its Mourvedre component, is a tour de force, a spectacular, world-class wine. It is going to require some patience, though, and seems to need 4-5 years of cellaring. It should again be almost ageless in its potential.As I said last year, the Perrin family is a large one indeed, with brothers Jean-Pierre and Francois sitting at the top of the hierarchy and their four sons, Mathieu, Pierre, Thomas and Marc increasingly taking charge of their negociant business and their extensive estates throughout Southern Rhone. Now controlling over 1200 acres, as well as having a network of contracts, this operation is the equivalent of a major Southern Rhone train operating at high speed. Moreover, they are doing some incredible work in all price ranges. Other 2011s that the Perrin boys have produced include the following wines, which were very good across the board, especially for 2011s. In particular, readers need to take a hard look at their estate in Vinsobres, which is making the finest wines of that appellation, and more recently, what they are doing in Gigondas with the estate they purchased there, Clos des Tourelles. These are special wines. There are now three cuvees of Gigondas from the Perrins - the Gigondas La Gille, the Gigondas Vieilles Vignes and the Gigondas Clos des Tourelles. All three merit serious attention. Tasting the 2010s, which were all set to go into bottle right after my visit, certainly shows that this vintage is impressive, although I’m not sure that Marc and Pierre Perrin haven’t done as good a job with their selections in 2011. Three cuvees of Gigondas look to all have outstanding potential and will probably be in bottle by the time this report is published.Robert Parker | 100 RPAnother perfect wine from this family is the 2010 Châteauneuf du Pape Hommage A Jacques Perrin, an incredibly concentrated, powerful, backward wine that’s just now starting to shed its baby fat and tannins. Massive notes of black and blue fruits, black truffle, ground pepper, and a beautiful sense of minerality all flow to a full-bodied, deep, awesome wine that has a huge mid-palate, riveting purity of fruit, and a finish that won’t quit. Incredibly classic in style and reminding me of a hypothetical mix of the 1989 and 1990, it can be drunk with incredible pleasure over the coming 30 years or more.Jeb Dunnuck | 100 JDBeginning to enter its second phase of life - there’s development here, but it’s still a bit dumb and inexpressive - don’t open it yet. Taking on some woodland notes, wet bark and turned earth. Very powerful on the palate, with perfectly ripe, massy tannins, incredible depth and length. Great freshness, huge power, such impact. It needs at least 15 years in bottle before opening, and 20 would be better. A monumental wine. Drinking Window 2025 - 2065.Decanter | 100 DEC(based on 70% mourvedre, with roughly 10% each of syrah, grenache and counoise): Bright ruby. A drop-dead, room-filling bouquet evokes black raspberry liqueur, incense, anise and lavender, with smoke and herb overtones. Sappy and penetrating, offering deeply pitched but lively dark berry and cherry flavors and an exotic touch of candied flowers. Fine-grained tannins come up with air and give grip to an endless, fruit- and mineral-dominated finish. This remarkable wine would be at the top of my Chateauneuf to-buy list this vintage if I had the resources to swim in such waters.Vinous Media | 97 VM