Château Maucoil Châteauneuf-du-Pape Esprit Red 2020 ~ Southern Rhone, France

92/100 Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider
95/100 Wine Enthusiast (2019 vintage)
94/100 Wine Spectator (2019 vintage)
93/100 Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider (2019 vintage)

Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider "Spice, flowers, licorice, garrigue and kirsch show with ease here. The wine is medium-bodied, soft, round and fresh, with a refinement to the tannins and a delicacy to the finish. This is going to be great to open on release. The wine was produced using a Grenache dominated blend with Syrah, Mourvedre and various other allowable grape varieties. "

Wine Enthusiast "Produced only in outstanding years from an assemblage of the estate's best wines, this 2019 L'Esprit exhibits the ripeness of this vintage juxtaposed with a piercing edge of cassis and a deeply earthen, stony undertow. A blend of 13 grape varieties sourced from 70-year-old vines, it offer blackberry and black-plum flavors that are muscular in strength yet chiseled and fresh. Firm, raspy tannins need time to meld." (2019 vintage)

Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider "Quite floral in nature, you find loads of ripe, sweet, spicy fruit here with good depth of favor, energy, length and character. The wine was produced using a Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre blend that includes various other allowable grape varieties." (2019 vintage)

James Suckling "Spicy, polished nose of stewed cherries, dark plums, black olives, nutmeg, cloves, mocha and mahogany. It’s full-bodied and fleshy with smooth tannins. Savory soy and olive character at the end. From organically grown grapes." (2019 vintage)

Château Maucoil has been under the care of several different illustrious wine growing families over the centuries, but it is now owned and managed by the talented winemakers Frederic and Benoit Lavau. With the consulting advice of famed French winemaker Stephane Derenoncourt, the Lavau brothers have been making stellar and highly awarded wines and today are one of the few producers to continue to cultivate all 13 permitted grape varieties permitted by the Châteauneuf-du-Pape regulations.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape is a historic village between the towns of Orange and Avignon, in France's southern Rhône Valley. It is famous for powerful, full-bodied red wines made predominantly from the classic southern Rhône grape trio: Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre. These three varieties are behind the vast majority of the appellation's red wines, although a total of eighteen are approved for use – a mix of red and white grape varieties.

A Southern Rhône Red Blend refers to a wide range of grape varieties blended together in the southern reaches of the Rhône Valley of southern France. While the blend could theoretically consist of any of a wide range of grape varieties, it is usually made up of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre, in varying proportions, typically with Grenache and Syrah as the dominant partners.