2011 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge, Collection Charles Giraud, Domaine SaintPréfert, Rhône

2011 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge, Collection Charles Giraud, Domaine SaintPréfert, Rhône

Product: 20111319138
 
2011 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge, Collection Charles Giraud, Domaine SaintPréfert, Rhône

Buying options

Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
You can place a bid for this wine on BBX

Description

The masculine partner to the enigmatic Auguste Favier, Charles Giraud is named after Isabelle’s maternal grandfather. 38% of Mourvèdre adds dark-fruit power and spicy, savoury tannins; something of night perhaps, but a very balmy summer’s night with clear skies.
Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer

This is yet another Châteauneuf-du-Pape A-lister found on our list… were will it all end? Isabel  Ferrando’s vines are mainly located in the southern sector; her modus operandus is fairly traditional with no destemming, cement tank maturation and a taste for delestage. Her out-look and temperament, however,  fall into the more modern camp, as manifested by the multiplicity of differing cuvées, all, thankfully pleasingly different form each other.

wine at a glance

Delivery and quality guarantee

Critics reviews

Wine Advocate95/100
A step up, the 2011 Chateauneuf du Pape Collection Charles Giraud is a smoking wine thats up with the top wines of the vintage. Made from 60% Grenache and 40% Mourvedre, it has perfumed kirsch, black raspberry, licorice, dried flowers and roasted meat-like qualities soaring from the glass. As with the Reserve Auguste Favier, this has put on more mid-palate weight, has beautifully sweet fruit, and ripe tannin that emerges on the finish. It can be consumed anytime over the coming 10-12 years.
Jeb Dunnuck - 28/08/2014 Read more
Jancis Robinson MW16.5/20
60% Grenache, 40% Mourvdre. Mid crimson. Dense and lively with a dry finish and masses of acidity. But a little oak driven and tight. Racy but pinched for now.
Jancis Robinson MW, jancisrobinson.com 28 Feb 2013 Read more
Robert Parker90-92/100
The 2011 Chateauneuf du Pape Collection Charles Giraud is a blend of 60% Grenache and 40% Mourvedre, with the latter component aged in demi-muids, and bottled unfiltered. It is a full-bodied wine displaying abundant notes of roasted herbs, kirsch, licorice and truffles along with a meaty richness and power. Drink this beauty over the next decade.

One of the most passionately run estates in all of Chateauneuf du Pape is Domaine Saint-Prefert, which is located in the southern sector of the appellation. Isabel Ferrando, who had been in the banking business, fell in love with wines from this region and ended up buying an estate with her husband. She now owns 55 acres, and has followed a blockbuster showing of her 2003s with a succession of brilliant wines through 2011. In addition to her three distinctive cuvees of Chateauneuf du Pape, she also produces a wine called Colombis, a 100% Grenache Chateauneuf du Pape sold under her own name. She also produces one of the finest dry whites of the appellation, a Special Vieilles Vignes cuvee of old vine Clairette. All in all, this estate is at the top of its game. In his brilliant book on Chateauneuf du Pape, Harry Karis got it right when he called Isabel Ferrando’s wines “semi-modern.” Certainly all the St. Prefert Grenache is aged in tank (old fashioned for sure), and the Mourvedre (a dominant component of the Charles Giraud cuvee) spends time in demi-muids. The Colombis is given a slightly different treatment as it is aged in truncated cone-shaped oak vats or foudres. Isabel Ferrando’s 2011 white wine offerings include a basic Chateauneuf du Pape blanc and what is one of the two or three candidates for the 2011 white wine of the appellation, her old vine cuvee of Clairette.
Robert Parker, Wine Advocate #204, Dec 2012 Read more

About this WINE

Domaine Saint Prefert

Domaine Saint Prefert

Domaine St Préfert is yet another Châteauneuf-du-Pape A-lister on our ever-expanding Rhône wine range. Isabel Ferrando’s vines are mainly located in the southern sector; her modus operandus is fairly traditional with no destemming, cement tank maturation and a taste for déléstage. Her outlook and temperament, however, fall into the more modern camp, as manifested by the multiplicity of differing ‘cuvées’, all, thankfully pleasingly different from each other.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Classique comes from (relatively) younger vines and is a blend of 85% Grenache and 5% each of Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsault. It is a charming showcase for Grenache at is most bounteous; Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Reserve Auguste Favier is a charming blend of Grenache and 15% Cinsault. The Châteauneuf-du-Pape cuvée Giraud includes 38% of Mourvèdre that adds dark-fruit power and spicy, savoury tannins.

Find out more
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.

Find out more
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.

Find out more