Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Châteauneuf-du-Pape is one of those French words that look horribly unpronounceable and cause terror in those attempting to pronounce it. It’s really not too bad, here’s how it goes: sha-tow-noof-do-pop. It means “the Pope’s new castle,” if you were curious. The intriguing name comes from an era in history when the Pope relocated his administration to a town in the area called Avignon. Apparently the Pope, Clement V, had been living in Bordeaux before he was christened and felt a little homesick in Italy. The papacy returned to the Vatican of course in good time—but while they were there, the Popes of Avignon worked to better the wines coming from the area we now call Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
In the subsequent rulings of later Popes in the area, the wines were called Vin du Pape, then in the 18th century the wines were called Vin d’Avignon. The wine we call Châteauneuf-du-Pape today, was born out of the areas plethora of grape varieties and a set of unique climatic and geographic nuances.
The most famous aspect of the geography of Châteauneuf-du-Pape is the galets. These are smooth, round stones of golf-ball size that cover the clay soils in some areas of the AOC. These rocks are glacial remnants smoothed over by the river Rhone. These stones act to absorb the plentiful heat of the day and then radiate that heat back to the vines at night. This process helps to ripen the grapes in the vineyards with galets faster than other areas that lack them.
Châteauneuf-du-Pape produces both red and white wines, though production of red wine greatly exceeds that of white. There are 18 grapes permitted to make both red and white wine in the AOC (this was changed from 13 recently). There are no restrictions on the amounts of any grape that go into a Châteauneuf-du-Pape blend, so producers are left to mix as they see fit. Most producers in the area make red wines with a dominant percentage of Grenache, along with much smaller amounts of Syrah and Mourvèdre. The only producer that consistently uses all the grapes in the blend Château de Beaucastel.
Red wines of Châteauneuf-du-Pape usually exhibit a earthy, gamey nose (sometimes referred to as “barnyard-y”) along with leather and fresh or dried savory herbs. The wines are generally strong and tannic and can age very well.
When buying Châteauneuf-du-Pape look for the raised seal on the bottle. This will be stamped into the glass. In an era (long ago) when paper labels were expensive and fell off, this stamp was a way for producers to mark their product as being genuine Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Though the practice isn’t really necessary anymore, it’s now a tradition and is recognized the world over.
