Domaine du Pegau Chateauneuf du Pape Rouge "Cuvee Reservee" 2015 [1.5L MAGNUM]
(Southern Rhone, France) - [WE 96] [RP 96] [JD 96] [WS 94] [AG 93-95]

Notes from the Winemaker:
Colour : Dark red with a purple body.
Nose : Black ripe fruits like morello cherries and raspberries, juniper berries, black pepper and garrigue. After several years ageing, the aromas will be characterised by plums, dried stone fruits, leather, fur, and sandalwood.
Mouth: Round, rich and powerful with soft tannins. With time, it will involve into a more complex and spicy wine.

Food pairings : Red grilled meat, lamb shoulder with thyme and dishes of tapas and curry. Serving temperature : 16°C and let it breathe.

Winemaking :
The bunches of grapes are carefully hand-picked and there is a strict selection of grapes from the picking basket, tractor and tank. No de-stemming takes place and the blend of 13 grape varieties are gently crushed before fermentation takes place for ten days in a cement vat. No yeasts are added and there is no temperature control in this natural process. An absolute minimum amount of tartric acid and sulphites are added. After pressing, the wine is aged for 2 years in selected large old oak barrels.

Grape varieties: 80% Grenache, 6% Syrah, 4% Mourvadre, 10% other grapes varieties permitted in the Chateauneuf du Pape AOP.

Soils : Mostly covered by stones, mixed clays, chalk and sand.

Storage : Drink the year following bottling or age from 5 to 20 years.

 

96 Points - Wine Enthusiast Magazine:
"Savory notes of bramble, smoke and leather juxtapose forward plum, cherry and strawberry in this full-bodied wine. It's a penetrating, mouthfilling sip that lingers on the palate, finishing on soft, furry tannins. Approachable already, this concentrated wine should improve through 2025 and hold further. Anna Lee C. Iijima" - (11/1/2018)

96 Points - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate:
"Now that it has been in bottle a while, the 2015 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Reservee is looking even better than I projected based on last year's prebottling sample. It's all violets, cherries, subtle allspice and clove and traditional garrigue notes of lavender and thyme. Full-bodied and rich, it's crazy complex, adding hints of tar and black olives on the long, silky finish. It should evolve beautifully over the next two decades." Joe Czerwinski (28th Oct 2016)

96 Points - Jeb Dunnuck:
"The 2015 Chateauneuf-Du-Pape Cuvee Reservee is a beautiful, classic wine from the Feraud family that offers powerful notes of blackcurrants, peppered meat, garrigue, and that classic Pegau spice that's hard to find outside of this iconic estate. Possessing a deep ruby/plum color, beautiful complexity, full-bodied richness, and firm tannin, it has closed up slightly since I tasted it from barrel and is going to need 6-12 months of bottle age to bounce back, but this is a concentrated, powerful vintage for this estate that reminds me a slightly improved 2005." - Jeb Dunnuck (8/28/2018)

94 Points - Wine Spectator Magazine:
"Solid, with a muscular core of dark fig, blackberry, raspberry paste flavors mixed liberally with anise, savory, tobacco and singed mesquite notes. Shows a sanguine thread on the finish, where everything knits together. This has ample depth and character. Best from 2020 through 2035. 5,800 cases made, 1,000 cases imported." - JM (Issue Aug 31, 2018)

93-95 Points - Vinous:
"Vivid ruby. An exotically perfumed bouquet evokes ripe raspberry, cherry and garrigue, while a suave floral element expands with air. Fleshy, seamless and broad on the palate, offering intense black raspberry and fruitcake flavors that are braced and lifted by a spine of juicy acidity. The floral note builds as the wine opens up and carries through the sweet, strikingly long finish, which leaves behind red fruit liqueur and licorice notes." - Josh Raynolds (Mar 2017)

James Suckling:
"Typical, wild and rugged style here with dark fruit and crushed roses. Earthy and untamed. The palate has dense tannins with a wrap of sweet plum paste and plenty of extract. Long and frisky, this needs time. One for lovers of old-school Chateauneuf. Try in 2020." - 7 Jul, 2018