Dunnuck: 97-pt “Châteauneuf-du-Pape Brilliance”
- 97 pts Jeb Dunnuck97 pts Jeb Dunnuck
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NV Xavier Vignon La Reserve XV XVI XVII Chateauneuf-du-Pape Rhone Valley 750 ml
- Curated by unrivaled experts
- Choose your delivery date
- Temperature controlled shipping options
- Get credited back if a wine fails to impress
A Monumental Châteauneuf-du-Pape Effort
We’ve been selling the cult-like Rhône wines of Xavier Vignon, a massive member-favorite producer, for over a decade.
His NV Xavier Vignon La Reserve XV XVI XVII Châteauneuf-du-Pape may be his greatest yet.
Crowned with a whopping 97-point score from Jeb Dunnuck, no wine Vignon has ever released has scored higher. The numerals in the name, which represent the three vintages blended—2015, 2016, and 2017—go a long way to explaining why.
Over 75% of the wine is derived from 2016, dubbed “truly an extraordinary vintage” by Dunnuck, and “one of the best Southern Rhône vintages in recent memory” by Decanter. Vignon himself called it “the best autumn I’ve ever seen.”
As a star consultant to 99- and 100-point Châteauneuf-du-Pape estates like Raymond Usseglio, Marcoux, and Grand Veneur, Vignon is able to contract grapes from the best. Weaving together fruit from over a hundred plots, he got all the best angles on this trio of excellent vintages, then built a staggeringly rich, lush Southern Rhône for the ages. “Châteauneuf-du-Pape brilliance all the way,” said Dunnuck.
Blending different grapes, and often vineyards, is at the heart of Southern Rhône winemaking. Blending different vintages? That took a maverick like Vignon, who cut his teeth in Champagne, where pulling on barrels from different years for NV releases is the norm.
That creativity and willingness to push boundaries doesn’t mean much if you don’t have the pure technical skill to back it up. Vignon—“one of the leading consultants in southern Rhône,” according to Dunnuck—is a pro’s pro. For this cuvée, he created just the right combination to unlock 97-point praise from one of the world’s preeminent Rhône critics.