Châteauneuf-du-Pape Sanctus Sanctorum

It is no easy task to press a multi-layered, exciting single-varietal Grenache. It requires sandy soil, Galets roules and Grenache vines as old as Methuselah. Ok, with 80 or 90 year old Grenache vines you might also get there. Yes, and then the climate has to cooperate, because Grenache is a bitch! It wants to be ripe, because unripe Grenache grapes bring very ugly, dry and hard tannins into the wine, together with an extremely sharp acidity. A grimace would be such a wine. So you see, not every vintage is a Grenache year.

And not every winemaker is a Grenache master. But I would say that Pascal and Vincent Maurel are Grenache grandmasters. Because no one in the region produces great wines from this variety as reliably as these two. All the aromas of Provence come together in the fragrance of this giant to create a breathtaking perfume. The palate is incomparably complex, dense and powerful, yet fresh and precise, almost elegant. A masterpiece!