Jeb Dunnuck 94
The 2020 Chteauneuf Du Pape Barberini is a more modern styled effort based on 65% Grenache, 20% Mourvedre, and 15% Syrah that's brought up in new barrels and concrete tanks. Its deeper ruby/plum color is followed by a great nose of both red and black fruits as well as chocolate, ground pepper, and spicy, meaty nuances. Playing in the supple, forward style of the vintage, it's medium to full-bodied, has a layered, elegant mouthfeel, ripe tannins, and a great finish. Despite a kiss of barrique on the nose, this is pure Provenal goodness.
Wine Spectator 93
Offers crushed dark plum, baked cherry pie and rooibos tea flavors that are fleshy yet pure, with good vibrancy and lift. Juicy and supple, with chalky tannins coasting through the medium-length finish, with graphite adding mineral depth. Grenache, Mourvdre and Syrah. Drink now.
Blend: 45% Grenache, 45% Syrah, and 10% Mourvdre
Cuve Barberini Red It is a tribute to our ancestors the Barberini Family, produced when the vintage allows it from a special selection from our domaine, well known for its concentration and its opulence. The modern winemaking style, with optimization of the extraction but without excess, gives a powerful wine with silky tannins. Depending on the vintage, a part more or less is aged 16 months in barrels, and then when the blending is made, is going to spend 6 months in tanks for a perfect integration. Impressive wine, with a significant purity and density, can best be served for tasting between 4 and 15 years at least after the vintage year.
The grenaches of this wine come from our best parcels of old vine on the famous galets rouls terroirs .
After manual selection of the best grapes on a sorting table, the grapes are crushed and destemmed before falling by gravity into our fermentation tanks.
Long maceration and soft extractions help to get these both powerful and flexible features of our wines.
About 60% of this wine is aged in oak barrels and demi-muid for 18 months.
Food and wine pairing:
This wine still in its youth is best with red meat like a beautiful rib of beef but also, for instance, an apricot tagine of lamb, duck breast with cherries, then after about ten years a hare la royale
Tasting Note:
A delicate nose, mingling aromas of tobacco, violets, cedar and milk chocolate. The mouth is velvety with aromas of liquorice and cherry, with a persistent chocolatey finish.
Châteauneuf-du-Pape translates to "new house of the Pope" and refers to the relocation of the papal court to Avignon in the 14th century. Many Italian nobles moved to the area as well, and, thus the Lançon family members (owners of Domaine de la Solitude) are direct descendants of the Barberini family of Rome, still a prominent family in Italy to this day – among their ancestors number Pope Urban VIII and two cardinals. Generations of winemakers at Domaine de la Solitude have worked hard to consistently preserve the high quality of their wines.
This is a family steeped in the history of the region and of France. On the label, their family crest of three bees, dates to the middle ages. Since the Renaissance, through the French Revolution and into modern times, the family has played a part in the narrative that has been written about Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
After the devastation of Phylloxera in the early 1870s, the region was in chaos and reconstruction of vineyards could be financially ruinous. The Châteauneuf-du-Pape vignerons were just some of those affected by the rampant fraud and adulteration that was common in the early part of the 20th century. In response to this, the vignerons of the village drew up a set of rules that would become the first prototype for the entire Appellation Controlée (AOC) system, including a physical delimitation of where vines could be planted, minimum alcoholic strength, permitted grape varietals, and sorting of picked grapes.
In the 1980s, brothers Michel and Jean Lançon took the future of Domaine de la Solitude in their hands, focusing attention on the vineyards. Fertilizers have not been used at Solitude for the past ten years. Over the past several years, Michel's son Florent Lançon has been taking over the day-to-day operations of Domaine de la Solitude, continuing to make improvements while preserving the traditions of his father and uncle. The Estate is a contiguous 100 acres, planted to 86 acres of red grapes and 14.8 acres of white grapes, with vines averaging 50 years of age.
Driven by the desire to produce the best possible wines while still respecting the traditions of Châteauneuf-du-Pape and their lineage, in 1999, Michel and Jean decided to introduce four prestige cuvées and added Cuvée Barberini Rouge, Cuvée Barberini Blanc, Réserve Secrète, and Cornelia Constanza to the winery's production.
