The world of wine yields great treasure from different parts of the world in a given year. This year there is huge demand for the spectacular Southern Rhone’s from 2010. The great wines from the Southern Rhone are the Chateauneuf du Papes and people in the know are clamoring/lining up for the best Chateauneufs from this incredible vintage. Parker himself tastes the Southern Rhone and he has declared 2010 a GREAT VINTAGE with some producers commenting that their 2010’s will eclipse their 2007’s. Parker comments that, “I can’t remember a vintage son concentrated, powerful and rich…” Weather conditions were near perfect. The 2010’s will have significant aging potential, they have excellent tannic structures. The tannins however are sweet, supple with exceptional elegance and finesse. The Southern Rhone is offering an embarrassment of riches and more and more wine lovers are beating down the door to get these outstanding wines. There is one massive problem with this great vintage. The crop was very small, 30 to 40% of all Grenache grapes were lost, the dominant grape varietal in the Southern Rhone. This was due to a viticulture problem, the French call coulure and millerandage which results in uneven berry size and different levels of grape maturity. If in a normal year let say 1000 cases of a wine are made, in 2010 only 500 to 700 cases were made. Availability of these great wines is going to be a definite problem.

Today I bring one of my all-time favorites and one of all-time great Chateauneufs the 2010 Cuvee de Vatican Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve Sixtine. This is Vatican’s special luxury Cuvee and where the Diffonty family only normally make about 2000 cases of this, in 2010 this is way down. The fruit is sourced from the finest vineyards from the family’s major holdings in La Crau (clay and rocky soils), the Rayas terroir (Pure sand) and the Barbe d’Asne (clay soils). The Diffonty’s are among the oldest estate bottles in Chateauneuf and are legends of the Appellation. Parker sais the 2010’s are one of the finest vintages the Diffonty family has yet made. This wine is absolutely stunning combining power with finesse, superb dark fruits, smoky plum and black currants and like all great Rhone’s will drink superbly young but with this pedigree can be enjoyed over the next twenty years. Because of the small size of the vintage and the insane quality, this wine is being sold on a pre-sell. Very little or no wine will be available on release and certainly at higher prices.

Tasting Notes: The 2010 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve Sixtine is a behemoth. Made from a blend similar to the 2009's ( a blend of 45% Grenache, 30% Syrah and 25% Mourvedre) , the 2010 exhibits an opaque purple color in addition to a beautiful nose of melted licorice, blackberries, cassis, smoky barbecue embers, underbrush and soil overtones. Rich and full-bodied with a multilayered mouthfeel, this impressive, pure. PRE-SELL APRIL DELIVERY