Famille Brunier Chateauneuf Du Pape Rouge Piedlong 2020 750 ML

Historically, the Bruniers’ La Crau bottling has been their flagship wine, their grand cru of sorts. In 2011 they decided to isolate the fruit from a promising vineyard with galet-littered soil from a separate plateau known as Piedlong, which lies at the summit of the appellation. This bottling might be—in essence—their other grand cru. Piedlong is a vineyard inherited from Daniel and Frederic Brunier’s grandmother over thirty-five years ago, but the fruit was always blended into other wines. For various reasons, some unexplainable, fruit from Piedlong ripens about two weeks later than on La Crau, which gives it an immediate advantage, as a slow ripening process allows grapes to gain in complexity. The resulting cuvee—made from 90% Grenache—is therefore a kind of tribute to the grape and its ability to express terroir with purity. While visiting the domaine recently, we tasted one of the first vintages, a 2012 that was refined and elegant, and a beautiful pairing with spit-roasted lamb. I got the sense that Daniel is truly proud of what his family is building with this cuvee, as if somehow the wine will be the future of the domaine and, in many ways, the legacy of his generation. Not surprisingly, the 2020 vintage drinks like something even more ethereal than you’d expect from a southern red: it’s mineral and structured but with delicate aromas of rose petal, currants, and reglisse. Piedlong is a new classic.