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CDP Barbe-Rac, Maison M. Chapoutier 2019

Tasting Notes

The 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape Croix De Bois comes from a single vineyard near the town of Bedarrides and, as with the Barbe Rac, is 100% destemmed Grenache aged in concrete tanks. While I ordinarily prefer the Barbe Rac in terms of quality, this cuvée, which comes from cooler, more clays soils, offers a touch more purity and precision in 2019. Medium to full-bodied, concentrated, and nicely focused on the palate, it has incredibly Provençal notes of red and black fruits, peppery garrigue, saddle leather, and chalky minerality. It’s also perfectly balanced. I’d happily drink a bottle today, but a few years in the cellar will do it well, and it will certainly evolve for two decades.

96
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com, November 2021

Tons of forest berries and damson plums, but also dried herbs. An extremely expressive wine with great fruit, very fresh and slightly crunchy tannins, plus energy that makes it leap and bound across the palate. Stunning licorice and mineral finish that proves Chateauneuf can be an exciting and elegant wine. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification. Drinkable now, but best from 2024.

96
James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com, February 2022

The 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape Barbe Rac also shows the vintage’s more elegant, seamless style. It has an exotic bouquet of wild strawberries, blueberries, marine-like minerality, tapenade, and savory garrigue. Rich, full-bodied, and nicely structured, with plenty of length on the finish, this is another wine that will benefit from 2-4 years of bottle age and be long-lived.

95/97+
Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (222), November 2020
Please note that these tasting notes/scores are not intended to be exhaustive and in some cases they may not be the most recently published figures. However, we always do our best to add latest scores and reviews when these come to our attention. We advise customers who wish to purchase wines based simply on critical reviews to carry out further research into the latest reports.