Jefford on Monday: Châteauneuf – nuancing greatness

Andrew Jefford compares 2015 with 2016.

The question of what constitutes a good or great vintage in a period of global warming is an intriguing one.

Ample warmth and ripeness has always been considered the basic desideratum for a good or great vintage – and the higher a vineyard’s latitude, the truer this was.

Then 2003 thumped down on our doormats: a summer of such ferocity that Chardonnay grapes on leaf-thinned vines in Champagne turned to Bakelite before August was out, while Pomerol and Margaux wines on clayless gravels collapsed like starving camels. That vintage forced a reassessment of the desirability of raw heat. You could, after all, have too much of a good thing.

Producers in lower-latitude regions have always viewed a hot summer more circumspectly, and never more so than today, as criticism of higher alcohol levels has forced entire regions onto the defensive. Some began to think the unthinkable: that a cooler vintage in such regions might in fact be ‘better’ than a warm one.

Although intellectually tempting, the evidence doesn’t bear this out, at least for well-adapted grape varieties growing in long-established sites. Long, atypically cool seasons or stop-go seasons can certainly endow wines with some attractive qualities (freshness, liveliness, moderate alcohol levels), but this often comes with a lack of the inner wealth, drive and core required for optimum bottle maturation (one hallmark of ‘fine’ wine regions).

There may, too, be palpable evidence of mixed ripeness or under-ripeness in such vintages; fruit characters may be constrained and ungracious; tannins overly evanescent. Many lower latitude (‘warm climate’) regions could provide examples of this, but anyone tasting widely among the wines of Southern France in 2013 and 2014 would be able to note these kind of features, for better or worse. The initial high hopes for the cool but dry 2013 vintage in Languedoc, for example, haven’t materialised, and some of the wines now look a little shy, ungenerous and atypical.

Conclusion: even in lower latitudes, and even over a pulse of global warming, a good or great vintage still requires a generous season for optimum engustment (defined by John Gladstones as “the build up and conservation of flavour and aroma compounds in the berries”) and the great, enduring wines which can be fermented from such fruit.

But what kind of ‘warm, generous’ season? That’s the key question – and a comparison of the wines of Châteauneuf du Pape in 2015 and 2016 makes a perfect test case. I recently travelled to the region to take a first look at the two vintages side-by-side. It was instructive.

Both are, unquestionably, good vintages, based on warm and sometimes hot, dry summers. Both have that inner wealth, drive and core which marks them out from 2013 and 2014. But, as I learned from my friend Dirk Niepoort 30 years ago, “the biggest enemy of a good wine is a better one”, and if you taste a range of 2015s alongside their 2016 equivalents, you will inevitably find the 2016s better. The 2016 vintage in Châteauneuf is vivacious, energetic and complete, whereas 2015 in Châteauneuf is more open-pored, luscious and languid.

What were the seasonal differences? Both vintages got off to an early start, but spring was a little moister in 2016, and the Grenache flowered more successfully. In 2015, the three summer months of June, July and August were remorselessly hot, and young or more vulnerable vines suffered from drought stress. Not so in 2016, since the hot summer days were followed by unusually cool nights, and in any case the daytime heat tended to ease back once the mercury reached the mid thirties centigrade. Summer 2016 was punctuated by occasional timely showers, where the refreshment of rain came only at the very end of the growing season in 2015.

Since yields were also unusually generous in 2016, it’s little wonder that many growers describe it as having been (in the words of Julien Barrot of Domaine de la Barroche) “perfect. Perfect for all palates. I love 2015, but everyone will love 2016.” (And, by the way, 2017 isn’t far adrift of 2016 either – but quantities are far, far smaller.)

The Tasting

In order to identify vintage characters most closely, I looked at the ‘tradition’ cuvée of a cross-section of representative domains rather than the sometimes atypical special cuvées; the 2016 wines (and even one 2015) are mostly unfinished and unbottled. Notes on five outstanding pairs of wines follow, but one general point in particular is worth making, since it underlines just how complex a matter is the often controversial question of alcohol in warm-climate wines.

Alcohols, growers assured me, are nearly always higher in 2016 than in 2015 – yet I suspect that the vast majority of tasters would find that the 2015 wines taste ‘more alcoholic’ than the 2016s. That’s because the 2016s have a fresher fruit style, with less palpable sweetness and brisker tannins. They sometimes have slightly higher acidity, but above all have more gathered focus and energy. Even when they reach 16.5% (as some do), they taste balanced, whereas some of the 2015s can taste warm and a little dry at 14.5% or 15%. The question of alcohol can never be assessed in isolation: it’s the whole wine which counts.

Wines compared below are 2015 and 2016 vintages of: Les Cailloux, Clos St Jean, Ch. la Nerthe, Pierre Usseglio et Fils, Le Vieux Donjon. 

Notes below are available to Decanter Premium members

Les Cailloux, Châteauneuf du Pape 2015This unbottled and unfinished wine, based on 70 per cent Grenache with 17 per cent Mourvèdre, ten per cent Syrah and a touch of Cinsault is a translucent clear glowing red in colour with harmonious, balanced scents in which spice and wild-mushroom savoury notes are beginning to take the lead over quiet, warm red fruits. On the palate, too, you’ll see this settled, gentle style, full of dry refinement, amply echoed in this savoury, lingering wine; ample, rich tannins support the soft, burnished fruits. 90-92 (14%)

 Les Cailloux, Châteauneuf du Pape 2016

This unbottled and unfinished wine has an aromatic urgency and vitality to it which clearly contrasts with the almost indolent style of the 2015: strawberry, plum sherbet, truffles and underbrush. That gathered force is palpable on the palate, too, in the poise and refinement, the freshness and lift of the aromas: plum and cherry, finely buffed tannins, even a little meat jus perfumed by thyme and rosemary. There’s unusual lyricism here for a ‘tradition’ cuvée. 93-95 (14%) 

Clos St Jean, Châteauneuf du Pape 2015

This clear, translucent red wine (based on 75 per cent of Grenache with 15 per cent of Syrah plus a seasoning of Mourvèdre, Cinsault, Vaccarèse and Muscardin) has balanced and complex aromas of plum, strawberry and goji with tobacco leaf, menthol and Christmas spice. On the palate, those fruits drop away relatively swiftly leaving a flavour of dry spice, berry skins and plant extracts. It’s deep and pure, with ample grippy warmth. 91 (16%)

Clos St Jean, Châteauneuf du Pape 2016

This unbottled and unfinished wine is deep translucent red in colour, with earthy, warm, amply fruity scents: mouthwatering plum and bramble pie with a sugar-dusted crust. The palate is warm, deep and ample, built on a plum-bramble core but with notes, too, of chocolate, soft spice and meat roasting scraped from the pan. Its evident power and thrust is well-covered with textured, almost juicy tannins and a quiet flicker of fire-lit acidity. Complete, deeply satisfying wine. 93-95 (16%)

Ch La Nerthe, Châteauneuf du Pape 2015

This clear, light and limpid red wine is another of the 2015s which seems already to have attained the sort of aromatic grace and harmony you would normally wait half a decade for: herbs, menthol, sweet strawberry fruits and dry underbrush, backed by a hazel and cream softness. On the palate, too, this blend of 44 per cent Grenache with 28 per cent Syrah and 24 per cent Mourvèdre plus a seasoning of other varieties is refined, elegant and soft, amply evolved already, with delicate tannins and sustained, gathered acidity: a convincing gastronomic classic rather than a tasting-bench showstopper. 91 (14.5%)

Ch La Nerthe, Châteauneuf du Pape 2016

This unbottled and unfinished wine is markedly deeper in colour than its 2015 sibling, with vivid red and black fruits mingled with a calfskin leather sweetness: the diagnostic grace of La Nerthe is much in evidence, in other words, but the vigour of the vintage makes itself felt. That’s true of the palate, too, which is dense, vivid and long, though pristine and fresh, too, with poised balancing acidity. It’s not a big beast, but the Mozart-like harmony and proportion of this vintage are striking, as is its unusual textural finesse. 93-95

Pierre Usseglio et Fils, Châteauneuf du Pape 2015

This blend of 80 per cent Grenache with ten per cent Syrah and five per cent each of Mourvèdre and Cinsault is light, silky and translucent, with fine strawberry aromas given lift with a little meadowflower: charming and pure. On the palate, that sustained strawberry note is maintained in a low-acid backed by firm tannins with filling warmth. It’s very charming and beguiling at present, best broached before that dry warmth swells further and the bloom of its youthful charm fades. 89 (15%)

Pierre Usseglio et Fils, Châteauneuf du Pape 2016

This unbottled and unfinished wine is darker hued than its 2015 counterpart, though translucent. The aromas show more black fruit and less red, and there’s a sense of gathering forces and brooding reserve which bodes well. On the palate, it is a concentrated midweight with a firm tannic structure and a seamless blend of red (cherry and strawberry) and black (plum and bramble) fruits. The perfumed style evident on the 2015 vintage is amplified and deepened here; even the tannins seem perfumed. It also promises to acquire meaty, savoury depths which seem to have eluded this cuvée in 2015. 92-94

Le Vieux Donjon, Châteauneuf du Pape 2015

This blend of 75 per cent Grenache with ten per cent each of Syrah and Mourvèdre plus five per cent of Cinsault is deeper hued than many of its peers, though still a translucent wine. It has a lifted, graceful aromatic profile in which sweet vellum, soft parchment and savoury notes are well to the fore together with some menthol, but little primary fruit or spice. On the palate, the wine is succulent, perfumed and refined, with ample soft tannins and haunting, wind-dried plum fruit with a note of raspberry, too: a little more fruity than the aromas suggested, but balanced by sweet extract and glycerol rather than acidity. 91 (14.5%) 

Le Vieux Donjon, Châteauneuf du Pape 2016

This unbottled, unfinished wine is deeper-hued wine than its 2015 counterpart; its dark red hue is only just translucent. It’s much more darkly spicy than 2015, too, in a dramatic, arresting, papal style: packed with anis, incense spice and moist, unlit tobacco leaf. On the palate, it is startlingly succulent and rich, with ample wealth on the tongue and a profusion of sumptuous tannins. The plum, apple, plum and bramble fruits are still in their infancy, yet there is also remarkable aromatic complexity, too, with both floral and rich saucisson notes behind those fruits. Long, vivid, vigorous and searching, this is a fine Châteauneuf du Pape which will drink well soon yet hold off the years with assurance. 94-96 (14.5%)

Read more Andrew Jefford columns on Decanter.com

See Matt Walls’ full report on the Rhône 2016 vintage