Domaine Isabel Ferrando Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2020
98 POINTS: Jeb Dunnuck
95 POINTS: The Wine Advocate
95 POINTS: Decanter
95 POINTS: James Suckling
Three great wines become one...
Isabel Ferrando came to the conclusion that the blend of the fruit from "Favier" and "Giraud" & the older vines from the Domaine St Prefert Classique Châteauneuf-du-Pape makes a greater wine than either on its own.
"The first vintage for this single cuvée - which in the past would have made Reserve Auguste Favier and Collection Charles Giraud - the 2020 Châteauneuf Du Pape checks in as a blend of 75% Grenache and the rest Cinsault, Mourvèdre, and a splash of Syrah. Its deep ruby/plum hue is followed by a more reticent, full-bodied, powerful wine offering serious black fruits as well as notes of crushed stone, roasted herbs, licorice, and graphite. It's another stunning wine from this estate that savvy readers will snatch up. It's going to need 3-5 years of bottle age to show its true potential, but it's a brilliant wine."
— 98+ Points, Jeb Dunnuck
"Now the flagship of this estate, the 2020 Châteauneuf Du Pape is 75% Grenache and the rest Cinsault, Mourvedre, and a little Syrah. Sporting a deep ruby/purple hue, it offers a beautiful array of black raspberry and darker cherry fruit as well as lots of graphite, chalky minerality, Provençal garrigue, and spice. Beautiful on the palate as well, this medium to full-bodied effort has a layered, multi-dimensional mouthfeel, rock-solid underlying structure and concentration, building tannins, and a gorgeous finish. It needs to be forgotten for 2-4 years (although it certainly offers incredible pleasure even today) and will keep for two decades. Tasted twice."
— 98+ Points, Jeb Dunnuck
"This cuvée replaces the three historical red cuvées of the domaine (Classique, Auguste Favier and Charles Giraud). Quite introverted for now, seems to have everything required but needs time to knit together. Freshness, energy, fine and plentiful tannins with good acidity. While the alcohol is warming it is balanced. Could be very good in time, hard to judge now, but early signs are good and I'd like to see this again in bottle. From the galets roulés of lieu-dit Les Serres, fermented in concrete and then aged in concrete, old oak and amphora."
— 95 Points Decanter
"Tons of blackberry and forest-berry aromas, but also smoke and licorice pour from the glass of this powerful Chateauneuf, but the full supple tannins are already well integrated and this feels wonderfully velvety. A complex blend, based on grenache and cinsault, none of which was matured entirely in concrete. From biodynamically grown grapes."
— 95 Points, James Suckling
"Isabel Ferrando informed me during my visit that she planned to eliminate the Reserve Auguste Favier and Collection Charles Giraud bottlings, folding those lots and the "tradition" Saint-Prefert Châteauneuf into a single, combined wine under the Famille Isabel Ferrando label. The resulting blend she showed as the 2020 Famille Isabel Ferrando Chateauneuf du Pape is a fine effort, with layers of cola-like spice and hints of garrigue layered against a lush backdrop of cherries and raspberries. Medium to full-bodied and almost creamy in texture, it finishes long, silky and mouthwatering. There is some restructuring going on at this estate, as Isabel Ferrando plans to unify it and her Isabel Ferrando label under the Famille Isabel Ferrando umbrella. In addition, Ferrando informed me that she planned to eliminate the Reserve Auguste Favier and Collection Charles Giraud bottlings, folding those lots and the "tradition" Saint-Prefert Châteauneuf into a single, combined wine. The resulting red range would then include this "new" Chateauneuf du Pape, plus the Colombis and F601 bottlings. Almost everything she has done so far in her management of this domaine has turned to gold, so consumers should all look forward to the new lineup."
— 95 Points, The Wine Advocate
ABV: 15%