DOMAINE ROGER SABON CHATEAUNEUF-DU-PAPE LE SECRET DES SABON 2020 750 mL

Details

Grape varieties: Grenache (with traces of other co-planted varieties)

Age of vines: 100+ years old

Farming: Sustainable

Soils: Sand

Fermentation: Hand harvested, destemmed, 30-day maceration, gentle maceration xD;
Aging: 18 months in a second-fill, 600L demi-muid

Additional Information: Le Secret des Sabon began as an experimentalcuvee which has evolved into one of the top wines of Chateauneuf-du-Pape. With only about a single demi-muid produc ed each year, from presumably old vines with their correspondingly low yields, there isn’t much to go around. It is quite startling to taste Secretafter the Cuvee Prestige, as one normally expects the ‘top’ win of the estate to be the biggest, but this i s a red herring. While there is an unmistakable glyceryl weight to Le Secret, it is more high-toned than you would initially expect. Red fruit predominateswith stony and herbal accents that hint at a long life ahead. If we had to guess, we’d say that it is primarily Grenache and that it bears the hallmarks of a sandy terroir. Still, given the reticence of Didier and the generally more ethereal house style here, this is probably a good guess. Didier does admit that their oldest vines of Grenache are co-pl anted with other varieties in small quantities and that he prefers to co-ferment them. If we keep visiting each year, I’m sure we’ll get closer to the truth.