Roger Sabon Chateauneuf-du-Pape Cuvee Prestige 2020

Price drops to $54.95 per bottle when you purchase 6 or more bottles!

The Roger Sabon family’s success in Châteauneuf’s puzzling 2020 vintage continues with this 94-96 point CdP. For over 70 years, the Sabon family has been running and building this top Châteauneuf-du-Pape estate – and the quality exhibited in these past several vintages proves that things are better than ever. At our special price, we’re already 25% below retail, but if you get six or more of these utterly classic CdPs – the discount drops to over 31%!

The Roger Sabon estate has grown slowly over the decades, now covering a total of 50 hectares in the Southern Rhone. Most of these holdings are in Lirac, across the river from Châteauneuf-du-Pape, with additional holdings falling under the Cotes du Rhone designation. But here, in this wine, the focus is 18 hectares spread over 14 separate plots across the varied soils of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. A blend of 70% grenache, 20% syrah, and a 10% compilation of CdP’s “other” grapes make up the basis for this Cuvee Prestige – the majority of the fruit hailing from the Sabon’s old vines at Les Brusquières and Cabrières in the far north of the region. The fruit is almost entirely de-stemmed and undergoes a long but gentle maceration of some thirty-plus days. The length of the skins provides power and depth, while the gentle handling grants the wine the Sabon’s hallmark of freshness and elegant character.

The resulting wine is silky, elegant, and strikingly precise. A deep layer of ripe black and red fruits vies with structured elements of iron ore and smoke, and a dash of graphite for good measure. Balancing notes of roasted herbs, violets, and Assam tea add complexity, and the finish is unified with a rich and heady dark chocolate note. The wine thrives and expands with time in the glass, so decanting is certainly recommended. While many producers seemed to have struggled with consistency in the 2020 CdP vintage, the Sabon’s entire portfolio has shown that they are perhaps the most successful across the board among Chateauneuf’s top producers. Check out the great comments from the critics below, and be sure to snag six or more bottles to lock in that exceptional price!

PAIRING IDEAS: Keep things classic with the region’s famous Daube de Boeuf – playfully updated in this recipe with segments of oranges to brighten things up. Beef cheeks are ideal for something next-level tender, but any beef stew meat will work in a pinch!