Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Fiole du Pape NV
Inspired by Champagne where producers make non-vintage wines in order to ensure consistancy of a style, Charles Brotte came with the idea to apply this process onto his Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Just like in Champagne, he aimed then for this special cuvée, baptised "La Fiole du Pape", to have the same taste year in year out. Impossibel task with only one vintage inside the bottle, as conditions change over the years, but completely achievable when blending young wines and older reserve cuvées. Kept preciously in our cellar, these reserve back vintages will have the task to correct the typicity of the blend in order to ensure consistency of taste and style. We thought why not. If Chateau Palmer HISTORICAL XIXTH CENTURY WINE can work along this ideal, why not Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Fiole du Pape, as long as the taste is good and reflects the CDP terroir?
This wine "La Fiole du Pape" does not disappoint most of us. It is a rich and full-bodied Châteauneuf-du-Pape with lush blackberry and damson fruit, savoury and spice notes and smooth tannins on the finish. This powerful and elegant wine enjoys great depth thanks to the blending of youthful, fruit-driven styles with selected reserve wines of older vintages to obtain a consistent style with maturity which is ready to drink now. Grape Varieties are 70% Grenache, 20% Syrah and 10% Mourvèdre. We believe there are enough complexities. Alcohol content is 14 %, just right for CDP wines. Majority vintage used is 2012, the rest comes from 2013 and 2014.We woud say that this may still be the niche approach, but we forecast that this NV trend will make more inroads in the future.
The unique bottle shape represents the gnarled and twisted vines typical of the region due to their struggle to grow against the Mistral wind.
