Chateau La Nerthe Chateauneuf-du-Pape Cuvee des Cadettes 2015
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Winemaker Notes
This Cuvée is produced only in the best vintages. Expressive nose with notes of incredible youth on sweet spices, black cherries and fermentation aromas. Once again is the freshness, youth and red fruits expression on the palate: notes of fresh grapes are superimposed on those of black fruits. A rich, complex and generous wine with discreet ageing notes, silky and ripe tannins. A delicious wine to keep for great occasions for the next decade.
To drink with a wild boar casserole, rack of lamb with thyme juice, duck fillet with pepper sauce.
Blend: 35% Grenache, 33% Mourvedre, and 32% Syrah.
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
Slightly brick-red color and aromas of earth, wood, and spice. Complex and deep, with lovely acidity and rich, seamless flavors; long and balanced.
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Wine Spectator
A ripe, lush style, with warm and inviting plum, fig and boysenberry confiture notes gliding through. Offers a beautiful polished feel, with suave anise and black tea flavors filling in on the finish while the fruit just sails through. Relies primarily on fruit, and you can't blame it for that. Drink now through 2030.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
La Nerthe's 2015 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee des Cadettes is a blend of approximately one-third each Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre. Eighty percent of the wine spent a year in new oak barrels, but much of that has been absorbed into the wine, and I see that my notes don't make reference to overt oak descriptors. Scents of raspberry and spice lead the way, followed by a firm, full-bodied palate. The tannins are present from front to back, but they're ripe and silky, lingering elegantly on the finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Made from close to equal parts Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre aged in 80% new barrels, the 2015 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Les Cadettes offers more black raspberry, vanilla bean, cured meats, and spice, as well as medium to full-bodied richness, solid purity, nicely integrated acidity and outstanding length. This is a fresh, classic release from this estate that should be at its best from 2020-2030.
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Wine & Spirits
Made only in vintages deemed exceptional, the Cuvee des Cadettes comes from a 20-acre vineyard planted 85 years ago. Winemaker Ralph Garcin makes the selection of grenache, mourvedre and syrah in the vineyard, then coferments the varieties in large wooden tanks. The 2015 feels sleek and sophisticated, with notes of leather and spice over ink-dark fruit. The suede-textured tannins carry the wine into a chocolatey finish, firm and savory
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Archives affirm Chateau La Nerthe’s existence as early as 1560, while suggesting an even more distant past dating to the dawn of the region’s wine culture in the 12th century making it one of Chateauneuf’s oldest estates. Located in the heart of the Chateauneuf-du-Pape AOC region of southern France not far from Avignon, the 225 acres of Chateau La Nerthe vineyards are located in a single block around the Chateau and have been certified Organic since 1998. The terroir is very typical for the region: vineyards runs along a slope, at the top of which the vines dig their roots into soils of sandy-clay, on the surface there is a layer of the famous galettes, large, round, well-worn stones that originated in the Alps, having been carried down to the Rhône by the glaciers of previous ice ages. The further down the slope of the vineyard you travel, the more these stones dominate. All 14 of the permitted primary varietals are planted-Grenache dominates 62% of vineyards and the vines average over 40 years old. Chateau La Nerthe is the prime expression of Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
With bold fruit flavors and accents of sweet spice, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre form the base of the classic Rhône Red Blend, while Carignan, Cinsault and Counoise often come in to play. Though they originated from France’s southern Rhône Valley, with some creative interpretation, Rhône blends have also become popular in other countries. Somm Secret—Putting their own local spin on the Rhône Red Blend, those from Priorat often include Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. In California, it is not uncommon to see Petite Sirah make an appearance.
Famous for its full-bodied, seductive and spicy reds with flavor and aroma characteristics reminiscent of black cherry, baked raspberry, garrigue, olive tapenade, lavender and baking spice, Châteauneuf-du-Pape is the leading sub-appellation of the southern Rhône River Valley. Large pebbles resembling river rocks, called "galets" in French, dominate most of the terrain. The stones hold heat and reflect it back up to the low-lying gobelet-trained vines. Though the galets are typical, they are not prominent in every vineyard. Chateau Rayas is the most obvious deviation with very sandy soil.
According to law, eighteen grape varieties are allowed in Châteauneuf-du-Pape and most wines are blends of some mix of these. For reds, Grenache is the star player with Mourvedre and Syrah coming typically second. Others used include Cinsault, Counoise and occasionally Muscardin, Vaccarèse, Picquepoul Noir and Terret Noir.
Only about 6-7% of wine from Châteauneuf-du-Pape is white wine. Blends and single-varietal bottlings are typically based on the soft and floral Grenache Blanc but Clairette, Bourboulenc and Roussanne are grown with some significance.
The wine of Chateauneuf-du-Pape takes its name from the relocation of the papal court to Avignon. The lore says that after moving in 1309, Pope Clément V (after whom Chateau Pape-Clément in Pessac-Léognan is named) ordered that vines were planted. But it was actually his successor, John XXII, who established the vineyards. The name however, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, translated as "the pope's new castle," didn’t really stick until the 19th century.