Southern Rhône Blend, Dom. de la Solitude 'Châteauneuf du Pape Rouge'

60% Grenache/15% Syrah/10% Mourvèdre/10% Cinsault/5% Counoise

A bouquet nose of garrigue, flowers of cistus, blackcurrant buds. A mouth full of freshness and balance, with aromas of cocoa and morello cherry, with a long and licorice finish.

After a double selection of the best bunches in the vineyard then on the sorting table. The grapes are vinified as whole or destemmed according to the grape varieties. They are vinified in truncated concrete vats. The wines are then aged for 25% in barrels, demi muids and foudre and 75% in vats for 18 months. The wine is bottled without filtration or fining.

The Lançon family, owners of Domaine de la Solitude, descend directly from the 12th Century Barberini family of Rome. The best known of the family, Maffeo Barberini, was a papal nuncio, or diplomatic representative, in Paris from 1604 to 1606, and was made Pope in Rome under the name Pope Urban VIII. Two of his nephews became cardinals and a part of the family then settled down in Avignon. In the 1980s, brothers Michel and Jean Lançon took the future of Domaine de la Solitude in their hands, focusing attention on the vineyards. Over the past several years, Michel’s son Florent Lançon has taken over the day-to-day operations of Domaine de la Solitude, continuing to make improvements while preserving the traditions of his father and uncle. The Estate is a contiguous 100 acres, planted to 86 acres of red grapes and 14.8 acres of white grapes, with vines averaging 50 years of age.