M. Chapoutier Croix de Bois Chateauneuf-du-Pape Rouge 2020

Description

M. Chapoutier Croix de Bois Chateauneuf-du-Pape Rouge 2020 is part of Chapoutier’s Fac et Spera Sélection Parcellaire range of wines, a range of specially selected parcels of single vineyard wines which Chapoutier describe as a “precise ‘photographic’ image of a terroir”, a snapshot of a grape, in a certain year, in a given terroir. Fac & Spera means “Do & Hope”.

Maison Chapoutier has grown into one of the largest and most recognisable producers of Rhone wines. The company dates back to 1808 when Michel Chapoutier’s distant ancester Polydor Chapoutier bought a parcel of vines in the Rhone Valley. Today the Chapoutier has vineyard throughout the Rhone from Côte Rôtie in the north to Luberon in the south as well as having overseas projecs like Domaine Tournon in Victoria, Australia. Michel is committed to making the best wines whilst respecting the environment. Chapoutier now owns the largest biodynamic vineyard in Europe. It is his personal conviction that “the complexity in a wine comes from the level of microbiological activity around the vine roots”. Soils on the Chapoutier estate never see pesticides or herbicides, floral growth amongst the vines is essential, and the natural cycles of earth, sun and moon are also considered.

M. Chapoutier Croix de Bois Chateauneuf-du-Pape Rouge is 100% Grenache. The grapes are sourced frrom a plot near town of Bedarrides, from vineyard covered in large round pebbles over sandy red clay. Planted on slightly higher altitude than Barbe Rac, wine from this plot is known for its great structure and intensity.

The grapes are hand picked at peak maturity and sorted in the vineyard. Vinification is in concrete tanks. Grapes are destemmed and the vatting lasts around 3 weeks, in order to polymerize the tannins. Only the free-run juice is used to make this wine. The wine is matured in tanks between 14 and 16 months.