2016 Domaine Charvin Chateauneuf-du-Pape 750 ml

Produced by the estate that Robert Parker once likened to the peerless Château Rayas, this rare blue-chip score comes direct from the chilly cellars of Châteauneuf-du-Pape legend Domaine Charvin. “Don’t miss this beauty,” advised Jeb Dunnuck in his initial review, calling the 2016 “a thrilling wine from a great winemaker,” before awarding this crimson stunner 97 points.

On a recent trip to the Rhône, we spent countless hours tasting and talking through recent vintages with winemakers. One of the clearest takeaways from our notes was the extremely high regard that 2016 is still held in, spoken of with a reverence that supports Jeb Dunnuck's claim that the year was "an extraordinary vintage for the Southern Rhône." 

But the trip was also a reminder of why Châteauneuf-du-Pape was one of our earliest loves, dating back to the 1980s. The traditionalist expressions that thrived then—and are epitomized by Domaine Charvin today—summon a majestic intensity and power, while at the same time capturing the magical rustic charm of the region with its evocations of garrigue, pipe tobacco, spice, leather, and sappy berry energy. This 2016, accompanied by a beef rib ragout and the kind of baguette you can almost never find in the States, brought back memories of some of the finest wine-drinking years of our lives. 

We knew Rhône fans would be champing at the bit to secure their share, so we pushed for as many cases as we could land of this incredible, old-school bottle, with perfect provenance to boot.

If you’re curious why Domaine Charvin and the exalted Château Rayas are so often compared to each other, it comes down to this: most of Charvin’s grapes grow on cool and sandy north-facing slopes, recalling the unique soil and exposition of Rayas’s tree-sheltered vineyards. The analogy was really cemented in Issue #185 of The Wine Advocate, when Robert Parker put collectors on alert by proclaiming that winemaker Laurent Charvin “to me has always come close to what was produced at Château Rayas under the late Jacques Reynaud.” 

Both are also bastions of tradition, blind to passing fads. The Charvin family has been growing grapes in the Southern Rhône since 1851. Ever since Laurent assumed responsibility in 1990, he has adhered religiously to the conventions of Châteauneuf, by fermenting whole clusters from vines averaging 60 years of age and employing short macerations to keep extraction in check. This results in the striking clarity and freshness of fruit that inspired Robert Parker’s exceedingly high praise.

This is a golden opportunity to take home a Châteauneuf-du-Pape that’s a critical heavyweight and on every collector’s shortlist.