Domaine des Senechaux
CDP Senechaux
Chateauneuf du Pape
2015

The producer

Senechaux is one of the oldest wineries in Chateauneuf-fu-Pape, its history dating back to the 14^th century, and is named after the Seneseau forest which is located nearby. The estate consists of 26 hectares, the majority of which are planted to red varieties on vineyards on south-westerly facing vineyard slopes in the eastern part of the region. Vines are up to 90 years old. The production is traditional, with fruit entirely destemmed and ageing taking place in neutral containers, inducing large oak casks and concrete. In 2006, the property was acquired by Jean Michel Cazes, who also owns the Pauillac fifth growth, Chateau Lynch-Bages. 

The wine

Sourced from south-westerly facing vineyards in the eastern part of the region, Senechaux’ red Chateauneuf-du-Pape is a blend of 64% Grenache, with Syrah and Mourvèdre, and a soupcon of Cinsault and Vaccarese. The wine is aged, for up to 14 months, in a combination of vessels, usually including concrete and large oak casks, and the annual production is limited to under 8,000 bottles. Senechaux is a wine of generous red fruit concentration, with silky tannins, complex spice and earthy aromatics, and a long savoury finish. 

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.