March 6
We spent several hours today at the Chateauneuf-du-Pape fair, which had 89 wineries from this area, and the final fair in the series. There are so many good wines….
Pape Wine Fair
Domaine de la Solitude –
Guest House at Solitude where we stayed
where we stayed the night before, but slept all night, as Lori and I had a bug ( ??? food poisoning or the water???). A nice first white, fresh, and many reds, all very nice, even exeptional, except the final one, a 100% Grenache that had gotten a 99 from Parker, …too much for Lori and I to enjoy. Francoise and Jean visit Boston from time to time…next time we hope they will present at Pairings.
Chateau Mont-Redon – very nice wines, even luscious (2008 Pape) – one to consider for Pairings.
Le Vieux Donjon – La Florane – very enjoyable, with a small importer
Chateau la Nerthe, the final tasting of the day, was impressive. They try for more elegance than power, and succeed, from the first simple white, through the Cotes du Rhone and Papes…even their rose from Tavel (which I generally don’t like..they pick earlier, for freshness and purity). The pourer is the export manager…very nice…possibly a visit in the future.
Consistent with other tastings today, the roussane dominated wines were unimpressive, with too much oak and a bitterness at the end.
The buffet was nice, as previously.
Gallets (Stones) Vines Grow in Chateauneuf-du-Pape
We stopped tasting half way, had lunch, went for a walk, then back for more tasting…on the final day we have the process down pat…maybe we’ll have to come back. It’s every two years, and is a great way to learn the area. Next time we’d plan our trip so that we could go to (almost) all the 15 fairs and take more of the special classes.
Leave a Reply