2013 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes

Given the low yields in 2014, Michel Tardieu and his son Bastien chose not to produce a Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vieilles Vignes, opting instead to blend that fruit into their "basic" and Cuvée Spéciale bottlings "to give them a boost in material and quality." Production was also down significantly for 2013 and, in fact, all of their wines from that vintage, from both the south and north, were sold out before the end of last year.

Bastien Tardieu told me that because of the tardy flowering in 2013 it was essential to wait until late into the fall to harvest "or else your Grenache wouldn't have proper ripeness and it would be bottled with green character." Production was off by over 50% here in '13 and there will be no Cuvée Spéciale bottling as all of that juice went into the regular and Vieilles Vignes bottlings. Even then there were only 15 barrels of the VV, as opposed to a normal 30.

While the wines here are often associated with abundant new oak, that's not an accurate generalization at all. The utilization of new barrels has always been determined wine by wine and vintage by vintage, with no set recipe. In addition, the Tardieus have been quickly moving to greater use of large-format casks and are now the proud owners of a battery of Stockinger foudres and large tronconic oak vats that will play a major role in vinification and élevage here for years to come.