Elegant & Sophisticated: 2019 Guillaume Gonnet 'Bel Ami' Chateauneuf-du-Pape
Chateauneuf-du-Pape translates to the "Pope's new castle." It's been 645 years since the Catholic Church left Avignon and they have yet to update the name. While the name has remained unchanged for the Pope's "old" castle, the region has become the benchmark for quality wine in the Southern Rhone.
Today we have a Chateauneuf-du-Pape hailing from the spectacular single-vineyard, Croix de Bois. The 93 point 2019 Guillaume Gonnet 'Bel Ami' from Chateauneuf-du-Pape is a rare find–under $40 a bottle–from this illustrious vineyard.
Croix de Bois is famous for producing one of Chapoutier's single-vineyard Chateauneuf-du-Pape bottlings that regularly receive's 95+ scores and will run north of $100 per bottle. Today's offer is more than half that price, coming from the same vineyard, a 3rd generation winemaker, and born from a spectacular vintage. The era of paying big bucks for a formidable, complex, and opulent CDP is officially a thing of the past!
"Looking first at the 2019s, the majority of which were tasted out of bottle, these are rich, powerful wines that have full-bodied, structured profiles that are going to benefit from bottle age. This is a great, at times exceptional, vintage for the Southern Rhône that checks in just behind all-time greats." ~Jeb Dunnuck
The 2019 Bel Ami CDP is a very elegant wine featuring soft round tannins. A red and black fruit bouquet with cherries, blackberries, hints of garrigues, Christmas cake, and peppery spice lift out of the glass. The wine is sophisticated, decadent, and an all-out sensation! This wine will open up beautifully once decanted at least 1 hour before serving.
