Wine Advisor
Chateau de Beaucastel, Hommage a Jacques Perrin 2015
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Inky ruby. Potent blackberry, cassis, potpourri and garrigue aromas expand with air, picking up Indian spice and mineral nuances and a hint of smokiness. Sweet and seamless in texture, offering wonderfully concentrated yet lively dark fruit liqueur, spicecake and floral pastille flavors and a touch of candied licorice. Deftly blends richness and vivacity and finishes spicy, focused and extremely long; pliant tannins add shape and closing grip.
Reviewed by: Joe Czerwinski
As this was bottled only a week before I tasted it, I suspect this rating will prove to be conservative once a few months have passed. The 2015 Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage a Jacques Perrin is another prodigious version of this wine. How many wines in this world can be so huge yet so lacking the feeling of weight? There's plenty of layered spice but also a core of raspberries; rich tannins, yet no real astringency; and a long finish without any apparent heat. Wow!
Reviewed by: Jeb Dunnuck
There’s just a single foudre of the 2015 Châteauneuf du Pape Hommage A Jacques Perrin, and this behemoth was clearly one of the most impressive barrel samples I tasted from the vintage. Inky colored, rich, thick and unctuous, with tons of blackberry and blueberry fruits, cured meats, pepper and garrigue, it’s a tour de force and I’m always amazed at the level of purity, concentration and depth the Perrin family is able to achieve with this wine. I know most people squirrel this cuvée away, but it offers incredible pleasure in its youth, as well (the 2009 and 2007 are insanely good today). Still, a decade of cellaring would be ideal.
Reviewed by: Jeb Dunnuck
As this was bottled only a week before I tasted it, I suspect this rating will prove to be conservative once a few months have passed. The 2015 Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage a Jacques Perrin is another prodigious version of this wine. How many wines in this world can be so huge yet so lacking the feeling of weight? There's plenty of layered spice but also a core of raspberries; rich tannins, yet no real astringency; and a long finish without any apparent heat. Wow!
About the Producer
Chateau de Beaucastel (also known as Château Beaucastel) is located in the Chateauneuf du Pape appellation, one of the most famous sub-appellations of the Rhone Valley, France. Founded in the 16th century by the Beaucastel family, the estate was acquired in 1909 by the Perrin Family, currently owned by Charles Perrin. Jacques Perrin was a pioneer in organic farming in the 1960s and in 1974 he adopted the principles of "biodynamic" management of the vineyards, going against the trend of the time. He was convinced that respecting the nature of the terroir was the right way to go. Mourvedre, a native grape variety that has been present in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation since ancient times, has long been abandoned by most people because it is not easy to grow. Jacques Perrin has worked tirelessly to cultivate Mourvedre, restoring the original flavour of Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines and enhancing their value. Jacques Perrin's red wines are made from Mourvèdre, the rare grape variety from which they derive their classic flavour. When Jacques Perrin died in 1978, the estate was managed by Jacques' sons, Jean-Pierre and Francois. Under the management of the two brothers, the winery has flourished. Today, the affairs of the estate have been taken over by Jean-Pierre's son, Charles Perrin. The vineyards of Château de Beaucastel have a rare terroir - the underlying limestone is covered with rounded pebbles, clay and gravel, with good drainage, which allows the vines to have deep, strong roots. At the same time, the Mistral winds bring a cool microclimate to the vineyards, which favours the growth of the grapes. Organic fertilizers are used exclusively in the vineyard. The vineyards are still planted with the 13 grape varieties approved by the Châteauneuf-du-Pape Appellation of Origin, including Mourvèdre, Grenache Noir, Syrah, Cinsault and Counoise for the red grapes and Roussanne and Grenache Blanc for the white grapes. Grenache Blanc.) Château de Beaucastel produces both red and white wines, with the Mourvedre grape predominating in the red wines and the Roussanne grape in the white wines. Some of the better known wines are the Chateau de Beaucastel Hommage a Jacques Perrin (Chateauneuf-du-Pape), the Chateau de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape (Châteauneuf-du-Pape), the Chateau de Beaucastel Nouvelle Vague (Châteauneuf-du-Pape) and the Châteauneuf-du-Pape (Châteauneuf-du-Pape), Chateauneuf-du-Pape, and the Coudoulet de Beaucastel, Cotes-Du-Rhone. The most noteworthy of these is the Château Beaucastel Salute to Perrin dry red wine. The weather was perfect in 1989 and the quality of the Mourvèdre harvested at the estate was outstanding. The brothers Jean-Pierre and François, the owners, decided to make a special wine in memory of their father. They named the wine Château de Beaucastel Tribute to Perrin, using Mourvèdre from old vines as the main grape. These old vines produce very low yields of ripe, concentrated fruit. For the past 30 years, Château de Beaucastel has been considered one of the greatest wineries in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape region. Today, under the stewardship of Charles Perrin and his siblings, Château de Beaucastel is creating new glories and continuing the legacy of the Rhone Valley.
