One of Xavier Vignon's first almost anonymous blends! 

The grapes come from "collection vines", where many grape varieties are planted together, making it difficult to identify the exact share of each variety: grenache, vaccarese, counoise, mourvèdre, terret noir and muscardin.

95-97/100 - PARKER

"Tasted from barrel, the 2017 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Anonyme adds toasty notes, cedar and vanilla to the whirlwind of fruit. Vignon was able to harness in 2017. Blueberries, black cherries and stone fruit notes abound in this plush, full-bodied red that remains silky and focused on the long finish. It looks to be a terrific effort." 

94-96/100 - JEB DUNNUCK

"A wine that's going to compete with the 2015 and 2016, the2017 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Anonyme sports a deep purple color as well as a balanced, elegant, full-bodied, sexy personality that's already hard to resist. It has loads of dark fruits, peppery herbs, and violet notes, fine tannin, no hard edges, and sensational balance. It’s going to be approachable on release yet also evolve gracefully."

All the terroirs of Châteauneuf-du-Pape are represented in this cuvée for a great complexity and a beautiful minerality: rolled pebbles, calvary, marl, red clay...

Vinification

Yields were even lower than in previous vintages. 

The concentration of the 2017 juices was very high. A lot of substance, very little volume and therefore a challenge to extract little but to diffuse for a very long time. Six weeks of maceration before running off the wine.

The press wines were voluntarily and exceptionally separated and not integrated into the final blend.
Many precautions were taken in order to preserve the elegance and finesse of the skin tannins by limiting the extraction of the seed tannins as much as possible.

Ageing

The maturing process continued with the same philosophy: to preserve the freshness and finesse in an environment with very little oxidation. This cuvée is partly made from barrels immersed in the same wine.

Very lightly toasted barrels and a larger proportion of demi-muids (5% barrels and 30% demi-muids), some amphora and the rest in truncated wooden and concrete tanks.

 

Duck with olive sauce - Porcini ravioli with parsnip cream and crispy bacon - Roast pigeon with porcini - Quail stuffed with mushrooms