2010 Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Réserve

After greeting owner Sylvie Vacheron and her daughter Marilou, I embarked on a vineyard tour with Sylvie Vacheron's son Axel and long-time winemaker Bruno Gaspard. While employing biodynamic practices, the winery remains certified organic rather than biodynamic. The team favors vigorous rootstocks like Rupestris du Lot for their ability to grow deep roots quickly, penetrating the predominantly sandy soils. This ensures the vines have sufficient access to groundwater, especially during hot and dry conditions. To focus on vegetative growth and root development rather than grape production, grafting occurs only after three years. Discussing the 2022 growing season, Axel Vacheron highlighted August 13th as a critical date. Despite some hail, 40mm of rainfall revitalized the vines on that day after an extended dry spell. Even though there were initial worries about blocked phenolic ripening, Vacheron confirmed they did not encounter this issue in 2022. Before the August rain, small-sized berries led to concerns about high skin-to-pulp ratios, which could cause over-concentration of flavors and excess phenolics. However, the rainfall helped the berries increase in size, which improved the overall balance. In the cellar, Bruno Gaspard explained his practice of cold soaking at around 12°C (53.6°F) for the reds. Fermentation occurs with indigenous yeasts at temperatures up to 27°C (80.6°F) for long but gentle extractions. Total time on skins usually ranges from 30 to 50 days, but in 2022, they limited it to 30 days to avoid over-extraction. Except for Syrah, which undergoes élevage in barriques, all reds spend 12 to 18 months in large foudres. The resulting wines are rich yet alluring, with lush fruit profiles and round, polished tannins that allow for early drinking. The wines also possess ample aging potential, especially the flagship Réserve, which can easily evolve for up to two decades. The stellar 2010 Réserve tasted on this occasion should hold up magnificently until 2040. To complete the Vinous database, I also tasted the impressive 2020s, white and reds, with the Châteauneuf-du-Pape Les Quartz and Réserve being standouts. Except for the 2022 Les Quartz—a lovely red nonetheless—all 2022s match the serious quality achieved in 2020.

It's a mistake to generalize 2011 as a weak vintage, winemaker Bruno Gaspard told me, pointing out that all of the grenache from the Clos du Caillou vineyards finished at over 16% alcohol.The key to getting that level of ripeness "was not to panic and harvest too early.The fruit wasn't completely ripe at the beginning of September but it took off after that and kept gaining sugar for almost eight weeks."Growers who harvested too early missed the benefit of the Indian summer and "it's those wines that give the vintage its reputation for lightness," Gaspard said.Yields were fairly normal here in 2011 at just under 30 hl/ha "so the wines aren't heavy at all, in spite of the high alcohol." (North Berkeley Imports, www.northberkeleyimports.com; Domaine Select Wine Estates, www.domaineselect.com)

Winemaker Bruno Gaspard averred that given the personalities of recent Chateauneuf vintages he's "an even-year guy right now: 2010, 2008, 2006 and 2004 made the sort of wines that I prefers, but I'll make an exception for 2005, which is a phenomenal vintage that still needs a lot of patience." Unlike 2009, 2007, 2003 and 2001, those even-numbered years made wines that are fine, elegant and expressive, he added. "We're on mostly sand up here and grenache is our main grape so we're more about fruit, flowers and spice than tannins and weight." As we tasted his 2009s and 2010s side by side, he made the point that "when you go from drinking a '10 back to an '09, the '09 almost always looks heavy, even when it's an elegant one." By the way, Gaspard believes that "the break point for the traditional and modern Chateauneuf eras was 2000. Before that, you mostly had wines that were firm and red-fruited, with drier tannins, more acidity and less alcohol. From 2000 on the emphasis switched to later harvests, higher sugars, lower acidity, darker fruit and higher alcohol." Vintage 2010, he added, is in the pre-2000 style but with elegant tannins. "They'll be expressive on release but they have the balance to age extremely well." The 2009s, on the other hand, "will be at their best in their first decade after bottling and may not outlive the 2008s, which I love but which are misunderstood because they aren't dramatic enough." (importers include North Berkeley Imports, Berkeley, CA and Domaine Select Wines Estates, New York, NY)