Domaine de la Solitude Chateauneuf-du-Pape Reserve Secrete, Rhone, France 2020
VINTAGE : 2020
COUNTRY : France
REGION/APPELLATION : France, Southern Rhone, Chateauneuf du Pape
VARIETALS : 70% Centennial Black Grenache and 30% Syrah
Florent Lancon is the 8th generation of his family to make wine at Solitude. They are located in the best part of CDP, the La Crau peninsula. He is a descendant of the 12thcentury Barberini family of Rome, and has a Pope and two Cardinals on his family tree. They were also the first family to bottle and label a Chateauneuf du Pape in the 17thcentury.
The Grenache are from the oldest part of the Domaine de la Solitude, planted by my great-grandfather at the beginning of last century it is located on the western slope of “La Crau” on a terroir of safre. The Syrahs flourish on the fresh soil of Safre des “Blachieres”. These two great Terroirs are always vinified separately but only the great years, 5 vintages of the last 10 Secret Reserve is created.
A full-bodied, elegant and refined wine, tannic while remaining velvety smooth with black currant, blackberry, toffee, finishing very long on minerals, milk-jam, Havana cigar and cedar-tree aromas.
"Partially destemmed and based on 65% Grenache and 35% Syrah, aged all in foudre, the 2020 Châteauneuf Du Pape Réserve Secrète offers an absolutely heavenly bouquet of pure red and black fruits, smoky garrigue, savory flowers, and ground pepper. This carries to a full-bodied 2020 with a pure, layered mouthfeel that carries polished, fine tannins, no hard edges, and a gorgeous finish. It shows the softer, more accessible style of the 2020 vintage and is a dream of a wine to enjoy over the coming 10-15 years." Jeb Dunnuck 98 points