Chateau de Beaucastel 2013, Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Vintage after vintage, its colour is almost black and it has a bouquet that is at the same time very fine and powerful with an aroma of red fruits, blackcurrant, blackberry, spices, thyme and lavender. It is magnificent, on the palette it is initially ample and supple and allows you to discover deliciously fruity savours (figs, cherries, blackberries, compotes...) sustained by a pleasant acidity and very fine tannins. A very important name in the Rhone area at the height of its reputation!

Château de Beaucastel has been run by several generations of the Perrin family, beginning with the Jacques Perrin (who died in 1978), then brothers Jean-Pierre and François, and now their sons Thomas, Marc, Pierre and Mathieu.

Beaucastel 2013 is a triumph, its low yields (17hl/ha) ensuring harmonious concentration, and its use of all 13 varieties ensuring that the minor reduction in the Grenache component has been more than made up by additional varietals, in this case Mourvèdre, Counoise, Vaccarèse and Terret Noir in particular – in other words, all the varieties that have the potential, when in the right hands, to gel into something magical. Beaucastel are past masters when it comes to this type of alchemy, and the 2013 shows all the signs of joining the pantheon of greats.