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2016 Château de Vaudieu "Val de Dieu" Châteauneuf-du-Pape

2016 Château de Vaudieu "Val de Dieu" Châteauneuf-du-Pape

96VN
96WE
95JD
95WS
94RP
$79.99

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96

Vinous

Reviewed December 2019
Brilliant magenta. Intense raspberry liqueur, cherry pit, incense, potpourri and spicecake aromas show sharp delineation and pick up a vibrant mineral quality with air. Sweet and energetic in the mouth, offering deeply concentrated but lithe black raspberry, cherry pie, five-spice powder and lavender pastille flavors that slowly fan out on the back half. Effortlessly marries richness to finesse and finishes wonderfully long and spicy, with harmonious tannins adding shape and gentle grip. (JR)

Professional Reviews

96

Wine Enthusiast

Review Date: 12/2019
Fragrances of vanilla, smoke and violet amplify bold blackberry and plum in this bombastic red wine. A blend of 64% Grenache, 28% Syrah and 8% Mourvèdre, it's a rich, densely textured wine with a lingering finish marked by Bourbon and coffee notes. Appealing already for its flash, it should gain elegance from 2021 and improve through 2040. (AI)

95

Jeb Dunnuck

Review Date: 08/2018
A great vintage for this cuvée (and the region as a whole), the 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Val de Dieu is 64% Grenache, 28% Syrah, and the balance Mourvèdre, all brought up in demi-muids. Fabulous notes of garrigue, new saddle leather, graphite, and assorted sweet red (and some black) fruits give way to a full-bodied, ripe, powerful wine that has remarkable elegance and purity. (JD) 95+

95

Wine Spectator

Review Date: 08/2018
A beauty, with boysenberry, loganberry and blueberry fruit streaming through. Creamy and lush in feel, yet driven and detailed due to seamless acidity and light anise, black tea and lavender notes. Reveals a light graphite hint at the very end. (JM)

Staff Reviews

KM
Keith Mabry

Keith Mabry

K&L Buyer
Laurent Brechet is so terroir driven, he is one of the rare producers in Chateauneuf to bottle individual parcels based on terroir. The Val de Dieu, which derives its name from the winery (Vaudieu), is all on sandy soils on the eastern side of the property. Though we think of the rolled pebbles as the icon of Chateaneuf's terroir, it is this decomposed sandstone that is actually some of the most desirable. Rayas is famously planted on sandy soils. The Val de Dieu is no shy creature though as this is an explosive out-of-the-glass wine. Darker berried fruit with sweet baking spices and lavender notes, this is a gorgeous wine. Easily capable of a decade plus of further cellaring, it is so attractive now, it will cut through the fat of ribeye like nobody's business. Try one now and put a few away to discover down the road.
LS
Lauren Seward

Lauren Seward

The Val de Dieu ("Valley of God") is an extremely elegant, richly-styled CDP from one of the greatest southern Rhone vintages of all time. It is dark cherry red in color with a scarlett rim, and impossibly thick in color. Aromas of cigar smoke, graphite, garrigue, and vanilla bean are luscious and generous, and prepare the palate for notes of red and dark berries, baking spices, additional garrigue, and sweetened fruit. A quick burst of acidity greets you early on the palate, then the wine mellows and finishes quickly. While this is lovely to drink right now, it could only do better with a few more years of age.

Notes

One of the stars of Châteauneuf-du-Pape is Château de Vaudieu. A revitaliziation of this property came about under Laurent Brechet who has made great strides advancing this noble property. Laurent and his brother Julien (who runs Domaine des Bosquets) are the grandsons of southern Rhône icon Gabriel Meffre. Though from an historic lineage of wine makers, both have taken a modernist approach to winemaking. But for them both, it is all begins with the terroir. And Vaudieu has some of the best. Bordering Chateau Rayas to the north, the subsoils are primarily sandy with limestone and marls and two plateaux of red clays. Several bottlings are done to best express each individual terroir and the Val de Dieu is their ultimate expression of sandy soils. Val de Dieu refers to the "Valley of God" and comes from the parcel just to the east of the castle. It is Grenache based with Syrah and Mourvèdre making up the remainder from vines aged between 40 to 70 years of age. Grenache is aged in a mix of mostly used barrique and demi-muid (large oak barrels), while the Syrah and Mourvedre are aged in 228L barrels. A beautiful expression now but worthy of years in the cellar.

Details

OriginChateauneuf du Pape, Rhone, France
Type/VarietalRhone Blends
SKU1392075