Domaine La Barroche Chateauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Julien Barrot 2019 1.5 Litre

Variety: 62% Grenache, 18% Mourvedre, 13% Syrah, 5% Cinsault 2% 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 20 months in large oak foudres and blended with the other varieties before bottling unfined and unfiltered.

’Lavender, pastis and warm stone notes liberally infuse a core of steeped cherry and plum paste flavors in this red, with everything knitting steadily through the finish, which features an encore of grippy, mouth-coating fruit. Textbook, gutsy-edged Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre. Best from 2023 through 2035.’ 94 points, James Molesworth, Wine Spectator, October 2021.

‘The classic release from this great estate, the 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape Cuvée Julien Barrot is 60% Grenache, 19% Mourvèdre, and the rest Syrah and other permitted varieties. Black cherries, blackberries, graphite, peppery garrigue, and ample chalky minerality define this beauty, and it's medium to full-bodied, with a wonderful mid-palate, building structure, and outstanding length. It's a great 2019 that needs 2-4 years of bottle age to integrate its structure but will have 10-15+ years of prime drinking.’ 92 points, Jeb Dunnuck, March 2021.

'[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.