2010 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, L'Accent de La Roquète, Domaine de la Roquète,Brunier, Rhône
Critics reviews
Robert M. Parker, Jr. - 31/10/2012
(Robert Parker - Wine Advocate #197 Oct 2011)
About this WINE
Domaine La Roquette
Henri Brunier (of Vieux Télégraphe fame) bought this Châteauneuf-du- Pape estate in 1986. The 27 hectares of vineyards are located on a rocky plateau north of the village. They are planted with 70% Grenache, 20% Syrah, and 10% Mourvèdre and the average age of the vines is over 40 years old.
The estate is now run by brothers Daniel and Frederick Brunier. A new winery was built in the mid 1990s and was first used for the 1998 vintage. The grapes are hand picked and are then fermented for 15-20 days in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. The wine remains in tanks for a further year before being transferred into oak casks where it is aged for a further 8 months. It is bottle unfined and unfiltered.
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.
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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Description
Made from 65 year-old Grenache, which accounts for over 90 % of the blend, this is a typically powerful and robust wine, with notes of garrigue and macerated dark fruit, beef-stock even. I am not sure about the accent, although it is distinctly Provençal, and basso profondo to boot. Dense and hitherto quite tight at the back, a wine to cellar for up to fifteen years...
Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer, February 2012
Daniel Brunier detects a ‘strong sinewy’ character in his 2010s, something of the 2005 in other words, but with greater depth. His wines are perhaps more Roundhead than the Cavalier vintages of 2009 and 2007 and will be very long-lasting as a result. The on-going evolution ( if you will pardon the tautology) of La Roquète continues to impress and les Pallières bears virtually no resemblance at all to the raw and sinewy Gigondas I first encountered, with no lack of trepidation, a decade ago.
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