Domaine Lafond Roc-Epine Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2019
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Jeb - Decanter
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Powerful and well-constituted wine, a strong ruby color with a purple tinge. It gives a complex nose of cinnamon, cooked fruits and morello cherry. After a rich and firm attack, the mouth expresses vanilla and peppery aromas which persist to the final. It's a supple and rich wine with a very good length in mouth.
Blend: Grenache 80%, Syrah 10%, Mourvèdre 10%
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This Tavel-based domaine has turned out a solid 2019 Chateauneuf du Pape. A blend of 80% Grenache (matured in tank) and 10% each Mourvèdre and Syrah (matured in new barriques), it starts off a bit tarry, with notes of struck match, but then develops more conventional black plum and blackberry aromas. Full-bodied, rich and concentrated, it finishes long, with a flurry of velvety tannins.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape Roc-Épine is impressive, offers lots of ripe, darker berry and raspberry notes as well as some iron, olive, and leather notes. Medium to full-bodied on the palate, it has ripe tannins, terrific overall balance, and a great finish. This estate is incredibly consistent, and their 2019 is another gem of a wine.
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Decanter
Intense, piquant, black cherry nose. A very dark, fairly full-bodied style, but with a good sense of freshness. Fairly tannic - a little overextracted perhaps. Tannins are a little stemmy and fibrous, they spread like roots through the wine. Give it time.
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Wine Spectator
A throwback style, with fleshy, ripe blackberry fruit and warm spices cut through with smoldering iron and dried tobacco leaves. The finish is carried by evolving tannins. Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre. Drink now through 2034. 150 cases imported.
Other Vintages
2017-
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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.