2011 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, La Reine des Bois, Domaine de la Mordorée, Rhône

2011 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, La Reine des Bois, Domaine de la Mordorée, Rhône

Product: 20111114632
Prices start from £265.00 per case Buying options
2011 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, La Reine des Bois, Domaine de la Mordorée, Rhône

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Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
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Description

The juxtaposition of old concrete fermentation tanks and new maturation barriques, underlines the Delorme philosophy and its apparently contradictory approach to intervention. Be that as it may, it certainly seems to work. The 2011 is a dense, powerfully authoritative wine, with ripeness and quality seeping out of its every pore. Its texture is informed, but not dominated by the oak, and both major and minor keys are evidenced in the integration of the tannins.
Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer

Christophe and Fabrice Delorme did not take long to project this fine estate, named somewhat poetically after a woodcock, into the first division. Based in Tavel, theoretically rather unhelpfully as most activity takes place over on the other side of the Rhône river, the brothers make, as one would expect, delicious Rosé wine in addition to a very fine Lirac and a Châteauneuf-du-Pape which combines the best virtues of modernity and tradition. 2011 was especially successful for them; they attribute the high natural sugar levels to biodynamic viticulture. 


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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate93/100
The 2011 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de La Reine des Bois is gorgeous in the vintage, with an up-front, perfume and sexy style. Violets, potpourri, spring flowers and sweet fruit give way to a full-bodied, pure, concentrated and balanced Chateauneuf that can be consumed anytime over the coming decade or more.
Jeb Dunnuck - 28/08/2014 Read more
Jancis Robinson MW16+/20
Plump, spicy and plummy. Round and juicy – very different structure from this producer’s Liracs. Though there’s a bit of an oak corset on the end.
Jancis Robinson MW, jancisrobinson.com – 28 Feb 2013 Read more
Robert Parker90-93/100
The dense plum/purple colored 2011 Chateauneuf du Pape Reine des Bois is certainly one of the stars of the vintage, a full-throttle wine with sweet blackberry, blueberry and raspberry fruit intermixed with hints of graphite, toast, garrigue and forest floor. The wine has fabulous intensity for a 2011, full body and silky tannins. It should be uncharacteristically delicious after bottling (which is usually not the case with Domaine de la Mordoree Reine des Bois) and should evolve nicely for 12-15 years. It is undeniably a sleeper of the vintage as well as a major overachiever for this year.

Year in and year out, Christophe Delorme continues to turn out one of the top dozen or so Chateauneuf du Papes from this winery located in the village of Tavel. This is the quintessential hybrid style of Chateauneuf du Pape, incorporating both the best of traditional techniques with some modern influences, including the use of small barrels, emphasis on biodynamic viticultural techniques, low sulfur, and pure, exceptionally ripe fruit from their vineyards. As for the other wines from Christophe Delorme and his brother Fabrice (Christophe runs the vineyards and winemaking operation and Fabrice takes care of the books), they are still the reference point for how profound Lirac can be. This has become an increasingly popular destination for producers from Chateauneuf du Pape, as the soils are similar and the appellation is basically next door to Chateauneuf.
Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #204, Dec 2012 Read more

About this WINE

Domaine de la Mordoree

Domaine de la Mordoree

Christophe and Fabrice Delorme at Domaine de la Mordorée did not take long to project this fine estate (which is named, somewhat poetically, after a woodcock) into the Premier League.

Based in the Southern Rhone appellation of Tavel, the brothers make, as one would expect, delicious rosé wine in addition to a very fine Lirac and an excellent Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

Christophe produced his first wines there in 1987. Up until that time the estate had been little more than a hobby for his father, an industrialist with two great passions; shooting and wine.

Christophe totally refurbished and modernised the winery as well as replanting much of the vineyards. Today the domaine has 40 hectares of vineyards - 7 hectares in Tavel, 15 hectares in Lirac (top-notch examples), 16 hectares for generic Côtes-du-Rhône and 3 hectares in Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

The vineyards are organically cultivated as much as possible, only using chemical weedkillers and pesticides as a very last resort. As for the winemaking, the grapes are all systematically destemmed upon arrival at the winery and vinification takes place in temperature controlled stainless steel fermenters. The wines are then matured in a mixture of stainless steel vats and new oak barrels. The Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de la Reine des Bois is a limited bottling only produced in the very finest years.

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Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Châteauneuf-du-Pape

The most celebrated village of the Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape is the birthplace of the now indispensable French Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée system – imperfect though it may be. Compared to the Northern Rhône, the vineyards here are relatively flat and often feature the iconic galet pebbles – the precise benefits of which are a source of much debate. Minimum alcohol levels required by the AOC are the highest in France, but at 12.5% it is well below the natural generosity of Grenache, which only achieves its full aromatic potential when it is fully ripe and laden with the resultant high sugars. Syrah and Mourvèdre contribute the other defining elements in the blend, adding pepper, savoury spice and structure to the decadent Grenache. There are a further 10 permitted red grape varieties which can be used to adjust the “seasoning”. Of the five white varieties permitted, it is Grenache Noir’s sibling – predictably perhaps – Grenache Blanc, which dominates, though Roussanne shows a great deal of promise when handled well, notably at Château de Beaucastel.

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Southern Rhône Blend

Southern Rhône Blend

The vast majority of wines from the Southern Rhône are blends. There are 5 main black varieties, although others are used and the most famous wine of the region, Châteauneuf du Pape, can be made from as many as 13 different varieties. Grenache is the most important grape in the southern Rhône - it contributes alcohol, warmth and gentle juicy fruit and is an ideal base wine in the blend. Plantings of Syrah in the southern Rhône have risen dramatically in the last decade and it is an increasingly important component in blends. It rarely attains the heights that it does in the North but adds colour, backbone, tannins and soft ripe fruit to the blend.

The much-maligned Carignan has been on the retreat recently but is still included in many blends - the best old vines can add colour, body and spicy fruits. Cinsault is also backtracking but, if yields are restricted, can produce moderately well-coloured wines adding pleasant-light fruit to red and rosé blends. Finally, Mourvèdre, a grape from Bandol on the Mediterranean coast, has recently become an increasingly significant component of Southern Rhône blends - it often struggles to ripen fully but can add acidity, ripe spicy berry fruits and hints of tobacco to blends.

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