2010 Chateauneuf du Pape le Grand Pin

The 2010 Chateauneuf du Pape Le Grand Pin is prodigious. It is somewhat reminiscent of the 1990 Rayas, and, as I said last year, “It’s a Rock and Rhone legend” as well as “locked and loaded.” Now that it’s in bottle, it seems to have put on even more weight and richness. The lavender, kirsch, raspberry, pepper and garrigue aromatics offer considerable fireworks. This full-bodied, brilliantly concentrated 2010 is a lesson in how to produce high alcohol, strikingly powerful wines with elegance, freshness and precision. Another tour de force, it admirably demonstrates the extraordinary ability of Grenache to deliver levels of complexity and richness that are largely unequaled in the wine world. Le Grand Pin has more structure than Les Sablons, and will benefit from several more years of bottle age. It should age effortlessly for 15-20 years. This is a joint project between American importer Peter Weygandt and Baptiste Grangeon of Domaine du Cristia. All three parcels utilized for these wines are dominated by sandy soils, and are biodynamically farmed. The intention is to showcase old vine Grenache grown in sandy soils, bottle the wine without fining or filtration, and age it in old small oak barrels, or in the case of Le Grand Pin and La Guigasse, in 600-liter demi-muids. Yields are frightfully low as they are trying to capture the essence of these sites. Yields for 2010 were 12-14 hectoliters per hectare, and in 2011, they were slightly higher, but still very low for what was a generous crop. I am not sure if they made a 2011 Les Sablons, but if they did, it was not presented for tasting. While this estate’s track record is relatively brief, the wines to date have been nothing short of brilliant. Last year I went ga-ga over the unbottled 2010s and now that they have been bottled, that excitement is more than justified. Importer: Peter Weygandt, Weygandt-Metzler, Unionville, PA; tel. (610) 486-0800