Chapoutier La Bernardine Red Chateauneuf du Pape 2008
Beautiful bouquet of smoke, incense, raspberry, fennel seeds, and dense fig cake. Was tight on the palate when first popped but opened up splendidly after decantering and leaving it to simply sit for half an hour or so. Elegant on the palate with plenty of raspery fruit balanced out by a subtle leather tonality. There is a wonderful smoke feature that is less meaty and more earth. A dash of acidity still is still present, but as the bottle went this diminished, leaving only solid talc-like tannins on the finish and a touch spice. Was terrific with a pastrami with tapenade, tomato basil mozzarella melt. As you can tell, I really am a big fan of this!
Grape variety: Mainly Grenache, with a proportion of Syrah and Mourvedre which are less important.
Soil: Quaternary terrace, with a surface of shingles coming from the former bed of the Rhône.
Harvest: The grapes are carefully selected during the harvesting. Compulsory to obtain the Appellation, this sorting allows to have the best bunches of grapes.
