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Fill out your info and we will notify you when the 2020 Châteauneuf-du-Pape “Télégramme” Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe is back in stock or when a new vintage becomes available.


2020 Télégramme

by Anthony Lynch

The Nobility of Great Châteauneuf at Your Fingertips

2020 Châteauneuf-du-Pape “Télégramme”

Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe   France   |   Southern Rhône   |  Châteauneuf-du-Pape

$61.00

Use promo code VT20 at checkout to take 20% off, now through April 2

If Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe’s “La Crau,” the Brunier family’s cuvée produced from Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s eponymous stone-covered plateau, has inscribed itself in wine lore over decades of superb, long-lived vintages, it’s no coincidence. It is made from ancient vines—seventy years old on average, with some sectors surpassing the century mark—firmly entrenched in the appellation’s most celebrated terroir, where the seasoned roots of gnarled Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah, Cinsault, and others dig through a thick layer of riverbed stones to access the coolness found deep beneath the sunbaked surface.
     The Bruniers’ La Crau holdings, however, are not all mature enough to produce the intense, concentrated fruit that defines the “La Crau” bottling. Over the years, certain parts of the vineyard have been replanted, while missing vines here and there lost to natural causes have been replaced. The fruit from these younger vines is united in the Télégramme bottling, which the Bruniers have produced since 2002, when an uncharacteristically rainy season gave what they feared would be a watered-down version of Vieux Télégraphe. To their surprise, the newborn cuvée was silky and seductive, providing so much immediate pleasure that customers begged them to make it again. Since then, it has become a mainstay of the Brunier lineup, offering a taste of the greatness of “La Crau” with less of the imposing structure that demands bottle age to reach a velvety apex. Today, the young-vine fruit is supplemented by splashes of old-vine Châteauneuf from sites a stone’s throw, so to speak, from La Crau, bolstering Télégramme’s complexity without sacrificing its plush, toothsome texture.
     If Télégramme is more about fruit than stones, it is still undeniably Châteauneuf, expressing the nobility of carefully farmed Grenache from the Rhône’s finest terroirs. This unfiltered bottling from the excellent 2020 vintage—a more classic, sun-filled year than that fateful 2002—is one of the best editions to date, with sensual red fruit that is both mouth-filling and weightless, as luxurious as it is accessible. Perfect for enjoying now and over the next few years, it is an ideal match for the delicate flavors of spring lamb, roasted spring vegetables, or whatever other fresh, seasonal flavors are on your plate.


$61.00

Use promo code VT20 at checkout to take 20% off, now through April 2

More from this Producer or Region

About Southern Rhône

map of Southern Rhône

The southern Rhône valley is Grenache country. It’s also known for its stones. With a viticulture history dating back well before the Popes arrived in the 12th century and one of France’s oldest appellations d'origine contrôlée, Châteauneuf-du-Pâpe, the southern Rhône is unquestionably one of France’s best known and premier winegrowing regions. The wines have the pedigree and age-worthiness of Burgundy and Bordeaux, but with a rustic, Mediterranean character. Like most wines from southern France, the reds, whites, and rosés are blends. Filling out the Grenache for the reds and rosés, you’ll often find Syrah, Carignan, Mourvèdre, and Cinsault. The common white grape varieties are Grenache Blanc, Clairette, Bourboulenc, Viognier, Roussane, and Marsanne among others. From the alluvial riverbed stones found in Lirac, Tavel, and Châteauneuf to the limestone cliffs of the Dentelles de Montmirail that influence Beaumes-de-Venise (where you’ll find excellent Muscat), Vacqueyras, and Gigondas, great terroir abounds.

Kermit’s entrance in the region came in the mid 1970s on his first trip with Richard Olney, an American ex-pat and friend of Alice Waters. On that trip, Richard introduced Kermit to the Brunier family of Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe. Soon after, Kermit began importing the Brunier’s wines—their Châteauneuf-du-Pape “La Crau” bottling remains a staple of our portfolio today. In the late 1990s Kermit teamed up with the Brunier family to purchase the famed Gigondas estate, Domaine Les Pallières. More than 40 years later, we now import wines from fifteen southern Rhône domaines spanning the entire area of the region.

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2020 Gigondas “Terrasse du Diable”

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2021 Tavel “La Combe des Rieu”

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2018 Côtes du Vivarais Rouge

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$30.00

2021 Vin de Pays de Vaucluse “Le Pigeoulet” Blanc

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$26.00

Great winemakers, great terroirs, there is never any hurry. And I no longer buy into this idea of “peak” maturity. Great winemakers, great terroirs, their wines offer different pleasures at different ages.

Inspiring Thirst, page 312

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