2011 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvee Spéciale

"The easiest word to describe 2011 is freshness," in the opinion of Michel Tardieu. But one had to wait until late to harvest or there wasn't enough fruit concentration to go with that freshness, he added. "And then you had to worry about losing acidity, but that didn't happen." As Dominique Laurent has been completely out of the picture here for almost a decade, Michel and his son Bastien are toying with the idea of changing the name of their winery to Famille Tardieu. That designation is starting to appear on their labels "but it isn't easy for the public to accept a radical name change too quickly," said Michel, so Tardieu-Laurent is still the official name here.

Michel and Bastien Tardieu are a great resource for information on the entire Rhone Valley, given their work in the best appellations from Condrieu down to Chateauneuf-du-Pape (and Bandol, if you want to go even farther). As they are based in the south and work very closely with Chateauneuf-based enologist Philippe Cambie, they are especially qualified to discuss the vagaries of that sector. The key to success in 2011 was "not to fall for the temptation of high yields and big production, and many people fell for that," according to Bastien. "The quality was there but you couldn't realize it without getting rid of a lot of fruit, and a lot of that fruit was mediocre to begin with anyway." Mourvedre and syrah were the favored varieties in '11, "which means that you'll have good structure if your wine is based heavily on those grapes," Michel added. As for 2010, "what can you say apart from what everybody else has already said?" Michel shrugged. "It's a great, great year but structured, so not much fun right now or for a few more years."