2012 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Cuvée des Cadettes, Château la Nerthe, Rhône
Critics reviews
Jeb Dunnuck - 31/10/2014
About this WINE
Chateau la Nerthe
Château la Nerthe is a stunning, 500-year-old property becoming ‘one to watch’ in recent years. Working organically since 1998, its 57 parcels on various soils and expositions produce a seamless, complex Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The care taken in both vineyard and cellar has resulted in seriously impressive wines. This property is, absolutely, a worthy rival to the likes of Château de Beaucastel. Winemaker Rémi Jean is as inspiring as the terroir – his understanding of the multiple plots and attention to detail is impressive.
Château la Nerthe’s remarkable terroir produces beautiful wines, year-in, year-out. Rocky, clay and sandy soils combined with natural springs imbue the wines with wonderful freshness and minerality. Rémi says Grenache gives his red blends “magic”, Mourvèdre brings complexity and Syrah provides structure. The very special top white cuvée, Clos de Beauvenir, comes from a single, walled plot: an old castle garden in front of the historic château.
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
Our 2012 Rhône Vintage Recommendation: Favourite Southern Rhône Red
There’s already a huge amount of pleasure in this, with a lovely purity of rich blackcurrant fruit combined with dry spice on the nose and a wonderfully silky texture. However, it’s clear from the impressive structure that there is a lot more to come with time. A bitter-chocolate note on the finish hints at the pleasure to come once the savoury elements fully unfurl and combine with the weight of fruit already present.
Guy Davies, Wine Team
Les Cadettes is the result of rigorous selection in both vineyard and winery, so rigorous indeed that this year its volume is half that of its last manifestation in 2010, consisting of a somewhat modest 500 cases. The blend (39% Syrah, 37% Grenache and 22% Mourvèdre) has been aged in 100% new wood. Almost Bordelais aromatics of cedar, cassis and pencil shavings betray breeding and the palate, also in the manner of top Bordeaux, appears gloriously generous and indulgent in one sense yet finishes with restraint and dignity in another. Carnival should not lose sight of Lent.
Simon Field MW, Rhône Wine Buyer
Christian Voeux, with decades of experience at Mont Redon, is now really getting into his stride at the la Nerthe, probably the only property in the village which deserves its ‘château’ prefix. He describes 2012 as a Burgundian vintage, its hallmarks he cites as finesse with latent power. Both Cadettes and Beauvenir have been made this year, in itself a telling sign.. The low yields have engendered concentration and the growing season has favoured Syrah, which is a larger than usual shareholder in the blends. The putative Nerthe share price is rising all the time, it seems.
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