Super Chateauneuf du Pape Wine Tasting Featuring Chateau Rayas, Henri Bonneau, Domaine Du Pegau, Chateau Beaucastel and more

"When it came to writing about wine, I did what almost everybody does - faked it"
- Art Buchwald

We’re not faking it here at Wine Watch we actually drink the wines!!  

We have an incredible collection of Chateauneuf Du Pape in the store right now so I thought it was time to host a vintage Chateauneuf Du Pape tasting.  This is one of France’s most prized wine regions and at one time one of the most counterfeited wines on the planet!  It was here that France’s AOC laws originated, they drew up a set of laws to guarantee the authenticity and the origin of Châteauneuf-du-Pape and the rest of France followed. 

Join us as we experience 10 different Chateauneuf Du Papes going back to the 1989 vintage including two of the cult wines of this region Chateau Rayas and Henri Bonneau.  There are only 12 spaces available for this event and the fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $595 + tax.  For reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

For those of you that can’t make the tasting I have included every bottle of this magical elixir that we have in the store after the info about this event.

Super Vintage Chateauneuf Du Pape Wine Tasting
Friday, February 2nd
7:30pm

1989 Chateau De Fonsalette Cotes Du Rhone
1990 Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe Chateauneuf-du-Pape La Crau, Rhone
1990 Chateau Rayas Chateauneuf-du-Pape Pignan Reserve, Rhone
1990 Chateau Reyas Chateauneuf Du pape Reserve
1995 Lucien et Andre Brunel Chateauneuf-du-Pape Les Cailloux
1998 M. Chapoutier Chateauneuf-du-Pape Barbe Rac
2001 Domaine Du Pegau Chatauneuf Du Pape
2003 Domaine Pierre Usseglio et Fils Chateauneuf-du-Pape Cuvee de Mon Aieul
2003 Domaine Roger Sabon Chateauneuf Du Pape Le Secret de Sabon
2005 Henri Bonneaux Chateauneuf Du pape Reserve Des Celestines

Menu
Selection of Cheese and Charcuterie
Croque Monsieur with Tomato Soup
Venison Shumai with Mushroom Creme Sauce
Crispy Duck Confit with Pommes Frites and Currant Catsup
Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee with Carmel Rum Sauce

The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $595 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com. Please let us know when you make your reservations if you have any food allergies or aversions and chefs Toni and Dani will be happy to accommodate you.

A bit about Chateauneuf Du Pape

Alphonse Daudet, the French writer, once called Châteauneuf-du-Pape the "Wine of Kings and the King of Wines."  The wines of this region with the easy sounding name have been legendary for hundreds of years.  In 1309 a French Cardinal was elected Pope Clement V.  Because there was much strife between the French King and Rome, Pope Clement chose to remain in France.  The Pope, formerly the Bishop of Bordeaux, owned his own vineyard in the Graves district of Bordeaux (now known as Château Pape-Clement and one of the better properties of Graves); and he was very interested in cultivating vines in the new papal residence he established in Avignon.  It was really Clement's successor, Pope John XXII, who did extensive planting of vineyards and constructed a castle outside of Avignon, called the Châteauneuf-du-Pape or "new house of the Pope."  This was an affluent time in Avignon; many parties were thrown and much wine was drunk.  Although wine had been grown in the surrounding villages for 150 years, it was the papacy that spread the fame of these wines from Avignon.

In the 1920's some of the growers at Châteauneuf-du-Pape became really concerned about the amount of "foreign" wine being sold as Châteauneuf-du-Pape.  The late Baron Le Roy, the proprietor of Château Fortia, one of the great estates of the district, drew up a set of laws to guarantee the authenticity and the origin of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.  These laws later became the model for France's Appellation Contrôllée laws and were later copied by the Germans, the Spanish, and the Italians.  Although the laws have been in force for some years, it is common knowledge that there is still a great amount of illegitimate wine labeled Châteauneuf-du-Pape.  The local growers and estate owners realize that one of the problems is that 80% of the wine is made and bottled at facilities outside the district; this obviously leaves room for tremendous abuse.  We have found many Châteauneuf-du-Papes from shippers to be variable in quality, and we recommend only those wines that have been estate bottled within the district.  In order to make these wines more identifiable to the consumer, the growers use a bottle with the old papal coat of arms.  We enthusiastically recommend these wines and urge that you avoid almost all the plain-bottle négociant wines (shipper's blends).

Besides the great difference between estate-bottled and négociant wines in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the grape composition of the wines further complicates the picture.  As many as thirteen different varieties can go into the make-up of a Châteauneuf; each grower swears by the percentage of the grape he uses.  Since different grapes contribute different characteristics to the overall wine (Grenache and Cinsault for warmth and mellowness; Mourvèdre and Syrah for solidity and color etc.), it is understandable how different estates with different grape compositions can produce very different wines.  Further complicating everything is how the harvest conditions affect the grapes - all of which ripen at slightly different intervals.  It is easy to see why the variation in quality is broader in Châteauneuf-du-Pape than perhaps any wine district in France.