2021 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Hommage à Jacques Perrin, Château de Beaucastel, Rhône

Cask sample

Pure and intense cassis, blackcurrant nose – a leafy and earthy crushed blue-fruit note beneath. A supple palate with a herbal, savoury note, thrilling fresh acidity throughout and fine restrained and dusty tannins. The energy throughout is superb – excellent concentration of crushed cassis, earthy spice, liquorice and a layered, extremely long finish—so much energy and purity in this wonderful wine. 

Drink 2028 - 2042

5% Counoise completes the blend.

Fragrant summer berries and wildflowers on the nose. Rich and concentrated on the palate, not heavy or too weighty, the tannins remain sleek, fine and supportive, with the liquorice, toasted spice, and red berry fruit doing most of the talking. It's maybe missing some extra depth on the mid-palate. This is still direct and focused, sleek, and all in one line, but there's power, intensity, and grip to the elements, and it has a long finish. It feels a touch hot on the finish.

Drink 2026 - 2040

Hold +3 years

One of the original big-name French wines on the Place de Bordeaux, now joined by many others but still leading the pack in terms of prestige and quality. Juicy, powerful, seductive, a ton of spice, underbrush, red cherry, bilberry, cumin, toasted oak, incense, powerful liquorice and cocoa. There is so much complexity but also so much lightness of touch; I just love this wine and its lyricism. Winemaker César Perrin effortlessly handles a vintage that had plenty of challenges.

Drink 2027 - 2040

Medium to deep garnet-purple in color, it pops from the glass with expressive notes of baked black plums, boysenberry preserves, and fruitcake, followed by hints of tar, black pepper, garrigue, and fragrant soil. The full-bodied palate delivers multilayered fruit with impressive grace, featuring fine-grained tannins and plenty of freshness, finishing long with a peppery lift.

Drink 2025 - 2050

The full-bodied 2021 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin is one of the finest wines of the vintage. Precisely sculpted strawberry, raspberry, crushed violet, liquorice, tangerine peel and lavender aromas emerge from the glass. Discrete cedar and black cherry add more dimension. Ripe, almost velvety tannins gently structure this gorgeous 2021—it’s all about class and refinement. This is one of the most Burgundian renditions of this cuvée in recent history.

Drink 2028 - 2046

A blend of 60% Mourvèdre, 20% Grenache, and the rest Syrah, the 2021 Châteauneuf Du Pape Hommage A Jacques Perrin is probably the wine of the vintage. Ripe red and black fruits, smoked meats, cedary garrigue, pepper, and other assorted wild aromatics define the bouquet. It's medium to full-bodied on the palate, with beautiful concentration, building tannins, and a great finish. It already has some accessibility, but there are enough tannins here to warrant 5-7 years of bottle age.

Drink 2028+

From organically grown grapes.

Very dense but also vivid, with great elderberry, lavender, liquorice, and allspice aromas. Impressive concentration and power for the challenging vintage. Magnificent follow-through at the long structured finish.

Best from 2026

The 2021 Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin is approximately 60% Mourvèdre, 20% Grenache and 20% Syrah. Marked by scents of truffle and tree bark, great blackberry and black cherry fruit, and accents of liquorice and peppery spice, it's another in a line of terrific wines made yearly since 2009. Full-bodied, rich and concentrated, it's velvety but tannic, with enough structure and intensity on the lingering finish to expect at least two decades of cellaring potential but probably more).

Drink 2025 - 2045