Domaine La Barroche Chateauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Julien Barrot 2021

Variety: 60 % Grenache, 19 % Mourvedre, 13 % Syrah, 5 % Cinsault 3 % Vaccaresse etc
Country, Region: France, Rhone Valley
Appellation: Chateauneuf-du-Pape

De-stemmed, macerated on skins for more than 4 weeks with very gentle extraction using pump overs with a little punching down at the end of ferment to free the last sugar in the skins and fermented in tulip shaped concrete tanks. The Grenache is then aged for 18 months in large oak foudres and blended with the other varieties before bottling unfined and unfiltered.

’Expressive and pure on the nose, he smells of scrub, even brambles. Dense, it has tannins tight but ripe. Still in its form, it will be necessary forget it for at least two or three years in the cellar so that it relax.’ 93 points, La Revue du Vin de France, October 2023.

‘This vibrant, juicy, black cherry and mulberry-driven 2021 has medium body, beautiful overall balance, and a great finish. It's beautifully made and a classic, Burgundian 2021.’ 92 points, Jeb Dunnuck, November 2023.

'[Barroche] ‘Pure’ is as close to a great vintage of Rayas as one will find.' Robert Parker Jr, The Wine Advocate.

Whilst this small estate is relatively new to estate bottling (first vintage 2003) in the list of producers of Chateauneuf, the Barrot family that owns these 12.5 hectares of Chateauneuf-du-Pape have been established in the village since about 1400. The average age of the vines at La Barroche is 60 years old and one third of the vineyards are more than 100 years old (Grenache). Most of the vineyards of the estate are located in the north and north-east of the appellation with just a few plots located close to the town of Chateauneuf-du-Pape on the southern side.

Vinification here is classic with cement tanks used for fermentation and a mixture of cement and large foudres used for elevage of the Grenache based components and smaller oak used for the ageing of Syrah and Mourvedre based components. In the cellar wine is moved by gravity and done according to the lunar calendar and weather patterns. The wines of La Barroche are modern in the best sense, clean, pure and brilliant.