Chateau de Beaucastel
Chateauneuf du Pape
1997

The producer

Arguably the leading estate in Chateauneuf-du-Pape – perhaps the first among equals – for its consistency under the Perrin family for over a century. It’s history and fame harks back to 1549 when it was founded by the Beaucastel family. A large estate of 130 hectares the bulk of which is Chateauneuf-du-Pape famed organically since the 1950s and now biodynamically since 1974.

All 13 grape varieties are used for the production of the red Chateauneuf, and the “standard” wine is arguably among the best in the appellation, and great value. Things take a step up … no, call that a leap … with the ‘Hommage a Jacques Perrin’, which is based on 80% of 110-year-old Mourvèdre from the Courrieux vineyard and blended with varying amounts of Grenache, Syrah and Counoise. This is stratospheric Chateauneuf in any terms!

Beaucastel also makes exceptional white Chateauneuf-du-Pape which is based on predominantly Roussanne but also using the five other grapes in the estate white wine. The Cuvee Vieille Vignes indeed comes from very old vines - planted in 1901 – and picked ripe to give an exotic richness of immense power yet still of unbelievable balance. We offer both red and white wine from Beaucastel.

The wine

Beaucastel’s is the most famous and sought-after Chateauneuf-du-Pape in the world! The blend usually consists of 30% Grenache, 30% Mourvedre, 10% Syrah, 10% Counoise, with soupcons of Cinsault and some other varieties. The wine ages in oak barrels for around a year. Powerful yet sensual, and with layers of fruit concentration and complexity this truly is the finest which the region can deliver. Average production is around 8,000 cases per year.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.