Description
Château Mont-Redon will be familiar to those who know and love Châteauneuf-du-Pape being well recognized as the owners of some of the most highly regarded vineyard sites in the appellation. The superb quality of its 100 hectares of vineyards has been recognized throughout history and date back to the 14th Century. Prior to the change of the appellation controlee system it was one of the few “Grand cru’s” in the region (together with Chateau Rayas), and producing some of the most elegant of Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
The majority of Mont-Redon’s vineyards are located in the appellations most favoured area, the high plateau which is covered in the large round pudding stones that Châteauneuf is so well known for. This remarkable property is in fact a single vineyard.
There has been considerable investment at Mont-Redon over the past twenty years. The entire winery has been completely renewed and is now climate controlled. Rows of oak barriques have replaced the old large foudres of yesteryear, and large temperature controlled stainless steel vats now line the walls, resulting in wines of freshness and finesse in both red and white wines. More recently optical sorting machines at harvest time have resulted in wines of great precision. Mont-Redon is clearly a candidate for not only the most improved producer and the best value producer of the Southern Rhone but now also one the very best producers in the large historic appellation of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The reputation of Châteauneuf was built on its being “the most elegant and complex wine of the southern Rhône, not the most massive” and that’s the style that Mont-Redon pursues.
About the 2019 vintage from the winemaker ”2019 positions itself in the lineage of very great vintages; aging time only will tell if it joins 2017, 2016, 2010 in the pantheon of mythical years. 2019 possesses the perfect mix of concentration, complexity, depth and balance.” Pierre Fabre, winemaker-owner
More praise for the 2019 vintage … “2019 is excellent at GIGONDAS – fresher, later vineyards have done well. It is rightly hailed as a very good vintage, with good balance and bundles of freshness there, as it should be, therefore. There’s more freshness and riper body than 2018, I feel.” John Livingstone-Learmonth, drinkrhone.com
”This is a great, at times exceptional, vintage for the Southern Rhône ..” Jeb Dunnuck
About this wine: 80 % Grenache, 20 % Syrah and Mourvèdre, from 70+ year-old vines in two lieu-dits in the north of the appellation, in roughly equal proportions. Notre-Dame-des-Pallières is a south facing site at about 200m, whilst Pallière et Pied-Gu is north-facing and at 300m. The fruit from Notre-Dame-des-Pallières is fully de-stemmed, that from Pallière et Pied-Gu fermented as whole bunches and each parcel is on skins for about 25 days. Malo is completed in tank and then 60% of each parcel is transferred to 228L barriques for 16 months, before blending and bottling.
This third vintage of Gigondas by Pierre Fabre and his team at Mont-Redon is a resounding success. Top notes of garrigue and spice overlay a deliciously voluminous palate of red forest berries. The tannins are deep and rich yet also remarkably fine and silky and the wine finishes long and clean with good acidity. Remarkably good now and will cellar for a decade or more.
92 points, Josh Raynolds, Vinous, January 2023. ‘Shimmering ruby red. Spice accented raspberry and cherry aromas are complemented by musky garrigue and floral nuances. Sweet and seamless on the palate, offering juicy, well concentrated red berry, cherry cola and lavendar flavours and suggestions of allspice and licorice. Firms up steadily on the persistent, red fruit and floral driven finish, which is framed by slow building tannins. Made with 25% whole clusters.’
RRP $79 Our Special Price $59.99 when you buy 6 or more of this wine.
