france: rhone
Domaine des Sénéchaux, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Not one to pass up an excellent investment, Bordeaux's Jean-Michel Cazes purchased Domaine des Sénéchaux in the beginning of 2007. The once venerable domaine had previously been purchased in 1993 by Pascal Roux of Château du Trignon in Gigondas. Roux revamped the primitive cellar and replaced the diseased parcels of vineyards with new plantings. Fortunately, the large 65-plus-year-old parcel of Grenache was salvageable and nursed back to health. This parcel is adjacent to the La Crau vineyard (farmed by Vieux Télégraph, among others) on the famous plateau directly east of the village, and its fruit is largely responsible for the success of Sénéchaux today. A new press, clean new foudres, healthy Syrah and Mourvèdre all help, but it is that old-vine Grenache that gives Sénéchaux's wine its liqueur-like sweet middle, its weight and its class.
The domaine has a total of 67 acres of vines in two well-situated parcels: 37 acres in the Bois de Sénéchaux (sheriff's woods) district, bordering the La Crau and Charbonnières vineyards: and 30 acres on the south-facing slope bordering Château La Nerthe's vineyards. The Bois de Sénéchaux parcel is covered with Châteauneuf-du-Pape's famous galets roulés, and every year the Sénéchaux team fires up a small 1950s-era Perkins tracked tractor to plow their way through the stones. This old tractor is as indefatigable as the ancient stones and gnarled old Grenache vines it has to navigate.
Under the experienced eye of winemaker Bernard Tranchecoste, brought in by Roux in 1998 and kept on by new company President Jean-Charles Cazes, Sénéchaux makes about 5,500 cases of red wine and 800 cases of white each year. The red wine is roughly 65% Grenache, 20% Syrah, and 15% Mourvèdre; the fruit (co-fermented whenever the varieties ripen together) vinifies slowly with native yeast, and the wine is bottled unfiltered—all in one bottling, rather than several spread out over months. The white is roughly 30% Roussanne (partially barrel-fermented), 30% Grenache Blanc, 30% Clairette, and 10% Bourboulenc. It's a fresh, full-throttled white wine filled with character.
Domaine des Sénéchaux ranks among the best-priced, top quality Châteauneufs on the market.
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