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Chateau La Nerthe Chateauneuf-du-Pape Cuvee des Cadettes 2016 - First Bottle

Reviews

97+ Jeb Dunnuck - Read

Similarly colored, the 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée des Cadettes is a Grenache-heavy blend that includes 38% Syrah and 10% Mourvèdre. It was not destemmed and was brought up in 28% new barrels, with the balance in foudres. It offers more cassis, graphite, spicy wood, and minerality, full-bodied richness, a deep, powerful texture, integrated acidity, and awesome structure. It's a rock star wine from this estate that won't hit maturity for a decade and will keep for 10-15 years after that in cold cellars. It’s the finest wine from this estate since the 2010, 2005, and 1998.

96 Wine Enthusiast - Read

This is a luscious, creamy wine that's full of rich black-cherry and berry flavors edged by piquant hits of anise and black pepper. A concentrated wine structured by firm, taut tannins, it maintains lively freshness on the midpalate. This powerful wine is a bit unwieldy in its youth but should gain finesse through 2030 and hold further still.

95 Wine Spectator - Read

Ripe and well-packed, with warm plum, blackberry and boysenberry flavors, this drips with fruit but displays drive too. Sparkles of anise and fruitcake add energy, while a streak of graphite gives the finish cut. Grenache, Mourvèdre and Syrah. Best from 2020 through 2035. 1,700 cases made, 500 cases imported.

94 James Suckling - Read

Berry and plum pastry with poached, red fruit and an array of wild herbs. The palate delivers rich, spicy, dark berries with convincing depth and drive. From organically grown grapes. Drink in 2020.

94 Vinous - Read

Deep lurid ruby. Intense red fruit preserve and floral pastille aromas develop suggestions of exotic spices, vanilla and woodsmoke in the glass. Sappy and deeply concentrated yet energetic as well, offering palate-staining blackberry and cherry compote flavors that are given spine and focus by a core of juicy acidity. Conveys a suave combination of richness and elegance and finishes extremely long and sweet; supple tannins sneak in slowly to add framework and grip.

93+ Robert Parker's Wine Advocate - Read

The 2016 Châteauneuf du Pape Cuvée des Cadettes is showing a bit more oak than the 2015 did last year, but I also tasted it a couple of months earlier in its evolution, so I expect the wine will continue to soak up the wood as it goes forward. Right now, the blend of 52% Grenache, 38% Syrah and 10% Mourvèdre is toasty and cedary, marked by vanilla and baking spices. Some cola and dark berry notes emerge with airing, and it appears that the wine has the requisite weight and richness to carry the 28% new barriques used in its élevage. Give it another couple of years and drink it over the next two decades.

Technical Details

Blend52% Grenache, 38% Syrah and 10% Mourvedre
CountryFrance
RegionRhone Valley
AppellationChateauneuf-du-Pape
Alcohol15%

Chateau La Nerthe Chateauneuf-du-Pape Cuvee des Cadettes 2016

Rhone Blends | France

JD97+, WE96, WS95, JS94, VN94, WA93+

New $124.95 | 750mL

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While historical archives confirm the presence of the Domaine back to 1590, there is archeological evidence suggesting winemaking was conducted at Château La Nerthe going back an additional 3+ centuries prior, before the ascension of Pope Clement the Fifth in 1316 (the former bishop of nearby Avignon and the “Pape” in CdP). In fact, it was the former owner of Chateau La Nerthe, Joseph Ducos, who created an initiative to change the town’s name from Châteauneuf Calcernier (named for the vitally important limestone quarry near town) to Châteauneuf-du-Pape back in 1893. So, yeah, when we say “historic estate”...we mean it.

Hopefully, you got some by now...this is a wine that’s hard to come by. And especially this 2016...history in the making! 52% grenache noir, 38% syrah, 10% mourvèdre for the final blend, from the oldest vines on the property and the first plot replanted after phylloxera ravaged millions of hectares of vines throughout France in the 1800s. Since then, the Cuvée des Cadettes has been made with the best grenache, syrah, and mourvèdre grapes on the estate. The wine excels at expressing this exceptional terroir – at once elegant, intense, and supremely well-balanced.

The vineyard’s 92 hectares are divided into 57 plots or “climats” and planted to 13 different grape varieties. The estate has been farmed organically since 1998, increasing the naturally occurring benefits at this unique site. The warm Mediterranean climate is tempered by the Mistral winds, while natural springs flow from each side of the castle to feed the vines. 10 hectares of woods and local flora provide the biodiversity required to assist in maintaining the balance found on the estate.

The wine is forged in the 16th-century cellar after the grapes are sorted in the vineyard and then again manually in the cellar. Each plot is vinified separately following a 12-24 hour cold soak, utilizing native yeasts and a delicate regiment of pump overs and punch downs for the next three weeks. Aging is done in barrel and large oak vats, with the overall time dependent on the individual lots. Most critics agree...this is a powerful, intense wine that is only going to get better over the next decade – with an additional decade plus of cellaring potential thereafter.

PAIRING IDEAS: This wine craves something brawny, spiced, and full flavored. From the Moorish influences of southern Spain, this Chicken in Almond Sauce (pollo en salsa de almendras) is going to be perfect.

MUSIC SUGGESTIONS: Matching up with the food, this classic from the Doors is based on a classical piece from Spanish composer Isaac Albeniz in the late 1800s: “Spanish Caravan”.

About the Producer

One of Chateauneuf-du-Pape oldest estates. Archives affirm Chateau La Nerthe exists as early as 1560, while suggesting an even more distant past dating to the dawn of the region’s wine culture in the 12th century. The 225 acres of La Nerthe vineyards are located in two single blocks around the castle. The terroir is very typical: the vineyards run along a slope, at the top of which the vines dig their roots into soils of sandy-clay, on the surface there is a layer of the famous "galets", the large, round, well-worn stones that originated in the Alps and were carried down to the Rhone by the ice age glaciers. These large pebbles store the heat during the day and release it at night.