#8 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2008, 96 Points! The red wine of Beaucastel as with Coudoulet de Beaucastel is a structured, intense yet lean drink, thanks in part to the large percentage of Mourvedre - about 30% - in the final cuvée. Its austere tannic backbone and resistant to oxidation help Beaucastel age gracefully. Grenache (30%) contributes a warming sensation of ripe fruit and a velvety feeling in the mouth. Syrah at 10% and Muscardin and Vaccarese with around 5% each add colour, spicy aromatics and increase the wines ageing potential. 5% Cinsault is added for softness and its special bouquet. The remainder is made up of small quantities of the seven other varieties permitted in Châteauneuf du Pape. They are the grace notes that add the extra level of complexity which make Château de Beaucastel such an extraordinary wine. Once the flash heating method, as described on the first page of the brochure, has been accomplished, Beaucastel Rouge follows a more or less classic vinification. Most of the varieties are fermented separately until the malolactic is completed at which point they are ”assembled” after exhaustive tastings. The young wine matures in large oak barrels of 40 hl /1000 gal. for about one year. Fining is done with egg whites, and then the wine is bottled and left to age an additional year in Beaucastel’s cellars before being offered for sale.

Review

#8 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2008, 96 Points!One ofthe largest estates in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation, this property is owned and run by the Perrin family. In 2005, they produced their best regular cuvée since 1989 (Wine Spectator's Wine of the Year in 1991). The Beaucastel vineyard produces dense and explosive wines from a collage of 13 different grapes, most notably Grenache and Mourvèdre. Each is fermented separately in concrete or wooden vats. The third year of drought, 2005 only intensified the concentration and structure of this ageworthy red. Really dense and locked up now, this is packed with dark fig, currant and blackberry fruit shrouded by layers of tar, hot stone, bittersweet licorice and espresso. The long, dense finish has a great tug of iron buried within it. Best from 2011 through 2030. 15,000 cases made. –JM Wine Spectator

Wine maker notes

The result of all the efforts and innovations of three generations of the Perrin family is evident when one has the pleasure of tasting a good vintage of Château de Beaucastel at its peak. If one word could describe the red wines of Beaucastel it would be ”pure”: because these wines are the natural expression of the place and the grapes from which they come. In this case the vineyard is a patchwork of the 13 permitted grape varieties It covers 70 hectares in all. The soil is the same porous, aerated blanket of Alpine diluvium (with rounded stones) over a base of Miocene marine limestone that exists elsewhere on the estate. The vines are on average 50 years old and yields are never more than 30 hectolitres per hectare and often much less. This is a vibrant and healthy vineyard due to years of organic cultivation.