The bulk of the 2007 Châteauneuf du Pape reds from France’s Southern Rhône Valley are now arriving, and the vintage is a hedonist’s dream, offering opulent fruit and inviting textures. Most of the wines will have the stuffing to last past that, but this vintage is not at all like 2005, a year loaded with cellar-worthy backbone.
Yes, a few wines teeter on jammy and only the top tier display the full range of terroir-driven notes of iron,loam, graphite and more that Châteauneuf can offer, instead, the 2007 vintage is all about fruit, plum, raspberry and fig- with remarkably silky textures that belie the sometimes heady power and alcohol of these wines.
DOMAINE DE BEAURENARD
Châteauneuf du Pape 2007
91 points / $45 / 8.330 cases made / Red
Fresh and forward, with rounded texture and slightly jammy notes of plum, fig and blackberry fruit laid softly over a mineral streak. Open and juicy through the finish, picking up blueberry and fruitcake hints that balance the forward fruit. Drink now through 2019.- JM
HOT WINES
Châteauneuf du Pape Boisrenard 2007
95 points / $85 / 1,665 cases made / Red
Ripe, with lush crème de cassis and crushed plum fruit, showing excellent focus and drive, with racy acidity and taut, licorice-tinged structure. Turns flashy and exotic on the finish, with mulled blue-berry, incense and fruitcake notes over impressive, graphite-filled grip. Best from 2010 through 2030. From France-JM
