Professional reviews
Winespectator (93)
A chewy, rich, savory red, with smoked sausage, wet soil and hoisin sauce merging with red fruit on a supple, well-proportioned frame. Not about power or ripe fruit but savory complexity and nuance. Mesquite smoke plays out on the long finish. Drink now through 2038.
James Suckling (96)
A very structured and concentrated Chateauneuf for the 2021 vintage, with complex red-fruit aromas and a leafy freshness. In fact, it is almost minty. The fine tannins are quite serious, but the wine moves rather light-footedly over the palate in spite of this. Very long, deep finish that tends in a fascinatingly dark direction. From a slope at the extreme east of Chateauneuf with a very water-retentive soil that makes dry farming no problem. From biodynamically grown grapes. Drinkable now, but best from 2026.
Jancis Robinson (16.50)
100% Grenache, 25% whole bunch. Grown in a plot of pebbles over sandy red clay round Bédarrides that is higher than the site for their Barbe Rac bottling, which is one of the warmest spots in Châteauneuf and makes a more concentrated wine. Some aged in 12-hl casks. Cask sample.
Bright, transparent raspberry red. Sweet red-cherry fruit and some tannin and definite alcohol but not one of the most concentrated Châteauneufs… Quite juicy but definitely not ethereal like new-wave Grenaches! Needs time.
Jeb Dunnuck (95)
The 2021 Châteauneuf Du Pape Croix De Bois is largely in the same mold, with beautiful strawberry and raspberry fruits supported by spice, flowers, and Provençal garrigue nuances. It too is medium to full-bodied, has ripe yet building tannins, plenty of mid-palate depth, and outstanding length.
