Domaine Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge ‘La Crau’ 2019

$113.99

Description

Domaine Vieux Télégraphe Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge ‘La Crau’ 2019

96 pts – Wine Advocate

The 2019 Chateauneuf du Pape La Crau is a hugely successful vintage, marked by scents of sun-warmed stones, garrigue, black cherries and black olives. Full-bodied, rich and velvety, it finishes with tremendous length and softly dusty tannins, which should help ensure a long, positive evolution. Rating: 96+

97 pts – James Suckling

If anyone tells you that Châteauneuf is just a big red that’s never elegant, then they need to taste this masterpiece of elegance. So many spicy and savory nuances on the very concentrated but almost perfectly proportioned palate. This is both joyful and serious at the very long, focused finish. Decades of aging potential! Drink or hold.

93 pts – Wine Spectator

Silky and refined, with focused cherry puree, plum reduction and raspberry coulis notes racing through, infused subtly with rose petal, warm stone and lavender hints. Features nice perfume through the finish. Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah and Cinsault. Best from 2036.

 

One cannot think of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the most celebrated cru of the Southern Rhône, without thinking of Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe. The Brunier family is legendary in its own right, having been rooted to the enigmatic plateau known as “La Crau” for over one hundred years. The wines of Vieux Télégraphe evoke the concept of terroir in its purest form: they reflect their dramatic climate, the rough terrain that defines the soil, their full sun exposure at a higher altitude, the typicity of the varietals with an emphasis on Grenache, and of course, the influence of their caretakers, the Brunier family. For many, La Crau is Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s grandest cru.

The AOC for Chateauneuf-du-Pape is in the Rhone Valley stretching from Orange to Avignon. Domaine Vieux Telegraphe was founded in 1895, and takes it name Vieux Telegraphe (Old Telegraph) from a rocky plateau of the Domaine where in 1792 M. Chappe, the inventor of the optical telegraph, installed a relay tower.”

LOCATION:

the stony Plateau de la Crau, in the south-east of the appellation, where the villages of Bédarrides, Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Courthézon meet.

VINTAGE:

This special plot of land has delivered us many unforgettable “VTs” over the years, and the 2019 vintage is showing itself to be not only a distinguished and confident ambassador of its storied lineage, but also a tour de force with the panache to stand among the all-time greats. The domaine’s old vines in the terroir of La Crau produce some of the most exciting Grenache in the world, and the select blending of their other native grapes, along with a long, patient aging process in large, oval foudre casks, produces the magic of Vieux Télégraphe. The Brunier family created one of the most memorable VTs of my career in the 1989 vintage, and thirty years later the 2019 seems poised to follow a similar arc of development. -Dixon Brooke

 

Wine Type: Red
Vintage: 2019
Bottle Size: 750mL
Blend: 65% Grenache, 15% Mourvèdre, 15% Syrah, 5% (Cinsault, Clairette, et al)
Appellation: Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Country: France
Region: Southern Rhône
Producer: Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe
Winemaker: Frédéric & Daniel Brunier
Vineyard: 20 to 60 years
Soil: Alluvial deposits, Limestone, Silica, and Molasse (red clay) with galets roulés
Aging: Wine rests in cuves for 10 months, and then ages for another 12 months in foudres, wine is bottled unfiltered, after 22 months of aging
Farming: Organic (practicing)
Alcohol: 14.5%