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2020 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc “Clos la Roquète”
Frédéric & Daniel Brunier
White wines from Châteauneuf-du-Pape don’t have much of a reputation as a summer wine. I’ve never seen anyone with a bottle at the beach, or dropping ice cubes into a glass on a sunny terrace. It’s true they can often be quite rich, needing something equally rich and hearty for accompaniment. Thankfully, there are exceptions to every rule, and this is one. Roquète has a creamy, toasty side, balanced out with loads of citrus, minerality, and its signature anise-seed finish. That means you can really go glass after glass, be it beach, terrace (hold the ice cubes, though), sunshine, wherever . . . and you’ll always find yourself reaching for more.
—Chris Santini
| Wine Type: | white |
| Vintage: | 2020 |
| Bottle Size: | 750mL |
| Blend: | 35% Clairette, 35% Roussanne, 30% Grenache Blanc |
| Appellation: | Châteauneuf-du-Pape |
| Country: | France |
| Region: | Southern Rhône |
| Producer: | Domaine la Roquète |
| Winemaker: | Frédéric & Daniel Brunier |
| Vineyard: | Planted in 1987, 3 ha |
| Soil: | Sand on red clay and galets roulés |
| Aging: | Wine ages in cuve and in barrel for 8 months before bottling |
| Farming: | Organic (practicing) |
| Alcohol: | 13.5% |
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About The Producer
Domaine la Roquète
In September 1986, René Laugier wanted to retire but had no successors to take over La Roquette , his domaine in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. When Daniel and Frédéric Brunier bought the domaine, it was a logical choice. The brothers had been proving their worth as rising young stars of the appellation, and the Brunier family, proprietor of Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe, had a long history of working tough soils—they farm La Crau, which boasts some of the most challenging vineyard terrain and most pedigreed soils of Châteauneuf. Daniel and Frédéric purchased twenty-nine hectares of vineyards at La Roquète. The brothers replanted the Clos La Roquète to white in 1987; this is currently the only wine bottled under the La Roquète label.
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Kermit once said...
Kermit once said...
I want you to realize once and for all: Even the winemaker does not know what aging is going to do to a new vintage; Robert Parker does not know; I do not know. We all make educated (hopefully) guesses about what the future will bring, but guesses they are. And one of the pleasures of a wine cellar is the opportunity it provides for you to witness the evolution of your various selections. Living wines have ups and downs just as people do, periods of glory and dog days, too. If wine did not remind me of real life, I would not care about it so much.
Inspiring Thirst, page 171