2014 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Pure

Julien Barraud is now fully settled into his newly constructed winery -- complete with large, tulip-shaped concrete tanks à la Château Cheval Blanc -- just behind his house on the main road at the southern end of the village. He told me that as he gets older, "but maybe still not quite so wise," he is succumbing to the appeal of working with a limited number of bottlings, meaning that he will make a Pure "when it’s completely right in vintage style and a proper yield." Otherwise, he'll do as he did in 2013 and use his old-vine Grenache to bolster his flagship Signature bottling. As for the Fiancée, "it's a wine that will be made in vintages where the harvest is late enough for the Syrah to be great, like in 2013."