
Cellier des Princes Estate
Created in 1925, the Cellier des Princes is the only cooperative cellar on the Chateauneuf du Pape area. They currently have 185 winegrowers.
Our wines are vinified with a great number of grape varieties – up to thirteen for the Chateauneuf du Pape. The main grapes used are the Grenache, the Syrah or the Mourvedre together with a whole set of ancient varieties.
Our wines always reflect their origin : deepness of the pebbles for strength, dryness and hot sandy soils for power and spices, chalky sandstones for structure, clayey – siliceous hillocks for richness and roundness.
Further to the phylloxera crisis which devastated the french vineyard at the beginning of the XXth century, some of winegrowers gathered in order to create their own structure of production. Their number soared very quickly and spread over a whole of villages producers of Chateauneuf du Pape appellation.
In 1960, the winery took the name of the “Cellier des Princes” in reference to the rich medieval history of Courthezon. The winegrowers of the Cellier des Princes want to defend and illustrate the values of rigour and faithfulness which were those of the Princes of Orange. Each winegrower owns a small vineyard and works for the common interest of the cooperative cellar. The Cellier des Princes, as a winemaking and marketing instrument, represents the development of each individual vineyard. Thus, maximum quality is guaranteed from the harvest to the wine tasting.
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#32 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2023
Delicate red in color. The incredibly expressive bouquet offers notes of sandalwood, herbs de Provence, and Red Delicious apples. On the palate, freshly picked red huckleberries provide tart and lasting succulence with a hint of baking spice. The sandy soils of the Chehalem Mountains offer salinity and minerality on the finish that is complemented with dark cherry and rhubarb.
Review:
Supple, richly textured and elegantly complex, this Pinot opens with a burst of fresh raspberry, then unfolds with notes of forest floor and brown baking spices, plus a touch of licorice as it builds tension toward refined tannins.
-Wine Spectator 95 Points
The first impression of this stunning red is of brilliant red raspberry fruit, as pure as a sunbeam. Yet an inky depth plays counterpoint, rumbling beneath, dark and a bit spicy, grounding the fruit with tannins from the silica-based soils of Bergström’s estate vineyard in the Chehalem Mountains. The tension between these two elements is gorgeous, the fruit saturating and full, and yet it has an energy and drive giving the texture a lifted, graceful feel.
-Wine & Spirits 95 Points
The grapes for this wine come from loamy, well-drained soils on our estate vineyard. Dijon and Wente clones are fermented in stainless steel and aged in French oak. This is an elegant chardonnay with a focused mid-palate and the refreshing cool climate acidity characteristic of Sea Smoke Vineyard.
Tasting Notes An elegant Chardonnay with aromas of lemon curd, star fruit, fresh cut peach and wet stone. Complemented by satsuma mandarins and a touch of hazelnut in the focused mid-palate and the refreshing cool climate acidity of our estate vineyard. Winemaking Our estate-grown Chardonnay fruit was picked and hand-sorted in the vineyard before spending the night in our cold room. Chilled grapes were softly pressed and the juice was gently pumped into a stainless steel tank and cold settled. Once the heavy solids were removed, the juice was racked to a stainless steel fermenter, then inoculated for primary fermentation. Following primary fermentation, the wine was racked to barrels, inoculated for malolactic fermentation, then periodically stirred to enhance depth and mouthfeel. The 2023 Sea Smoke Chardonnay was aged for a total of 10 months prior to bottling with no fining and no filtration.