2015 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Arioso

Rotem & Mounir Saouma’s wines show some of the most distinctly elegant and complex character of the region. This will come as no surprise to wine lovers who have had the good luck to drink the superb négociant Burgundies they produce at their Lucien Le Moine cellar in Beaune. Even in ripe years like 2017 and 2016, the Saoumas’ wines exude vibrant berry, floral and spice character, with sneaky depth and the balance to age. Release schedules here are never static and Rotem and Mounir “never let a schedule dictate what the wine wants to be. It’s ready when it wants to be ready, not when we tell it to be,” said Mounir.

The aromatic expression, purity, floral character and silky textures of a number of wines from the Pignan sector of Châteauneuf-du-Pape “made me come here in the first place”, Mounir Saouma told me. “There was an intensity of flavor without weight that seemed surreal given the region and the sugar levels of the fruit that was just incredible.” He added. Saouma describes himself as a “complete and learning student of the region” and says that he started making and continues to make wine here “with no preconceptions aside from trying to capture maximum elegance, because it can definitely be achieved” from Grenache and even other traditional regional varieties, especially when grown on sandy soils. His extensive background with Pinot Noir is highly evident in his southern Rhône red wines, which he raises in a collection of wooden and stainless steel tanks, demi-muids, barriques, concrete eggs and clay amphoras in his cellar just north of Orange, a visit to which is a veritable journey down a rabbit-hole of insight, opinion and philosophy. There’s no set-in-stone bottling or release schedule here, by the way, so there’s the very real chance that these 2015s won’t enter the market for some time, as in as far out as five years from now, or maybe even later.