Domaine Font de Michelle Chateauneuf du Pape ’Cuvee Etienne Gonnet’ 2005

NOTES

Jean and Michel Gonnet combine the rich flavours their 40 year old vines produce with modern vinification practices, resulting in concentrated wines that have an elegance and freshness that is uncharacteristic of some more traditional, cloying Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Their top red and white cuvée is the Cuvée Etienne Gonnet, named after their late father. The former is a 50/50 blend of barriques fermented Roussanne and the standard white cuvée. The grapes are harvested early enough to retain acidity giving a fresh, cream pear-scented wine that is one of Châteauneuf’s most celebrated whites. The latter is a sublime modern style Southern Rhône with plenty of fruit and vivacity. It is still quite deep and complex, made from the oldest vines on this 30 hectare Estate and aged for 12 months in new oak barriques.

TASTING NOTES

Full, deep red. Perfumed, Burgundian aromas of tangy raspberry, flowers and smoke. Highly aromatic in the mouth, with perfectly integrated acids brightening and extending the red fruit and floral flavors. Finishes with lovely length and vibrancy. This will rely as much on its ripe acids as on its fine tannins for development in bottle.

REVIEWS

Sweet raspberry fruit leads the way for perfumy floral and spice notes, with a fleshy palate of mocha, mesquite and red licorice. The long tight-grained finish just keeps going and going. Not as muscular as most 2005’s, but really well put together. Drink now through 2027. 94 Points, Wine Spectator Magazine