It has been pretty sensational times for the Rhone Valley. A string of successful vintages since 2015 including epic harvests in the North (2015) and South (2016), with plenty of goodies to be had (be it more selectively) in the other vintages. The word on 2019 in the North is very positive, perhaps on par 2015, though three haven’t been a lot of wines to look at just yet. As to the South, while we aren’t going to tell that 2019 is quite at the supreme level of 2016, it is outstanding and certainly one of the sexiest vintages out of the gate we can recall.
We spoke of the vintage a little bit in the piece we did on longtime favorite Chateau St. Cosme a while ago. That luscious mouthful however is Syrah-centric. This Bonpas Cotes du Rhone Reserve de Bonpas 2019 makes an elegant statement about the quality, substance, and unbridled juiciness we can expect from Grenache in this engaging vintage.
Part of the expansive collection of J.C. Boisset that includes several Californi and French properties as well as one in England and India as well as the iconoc Oakville Grocery, Bonpas is the ‘gateway to the southern Rhone’, a fortress built in 1318 on the road between Avignon (the Papal seat at the time) and Rome. The soils on the state are covered with galets, the round stones associated with the vineyard lands in the region.
As you might have guessed, the lead character here is Grenache from 40-year-old vines, with dollops of Syrah and Mourvedre rounding out the blend. The wine only sees large oak vats to mere aid on the aeration of the wine but not impart any oak notes that might interfere with the purity and authenticity of the fruit.
The Bonpas Cotes du Rhone Reserve de Bonpas 2019 is a crowd-pleaser in every way. Tender and supple for its young age, it’s a plush, forward display of ripe cherry and plum with a subtle underpinning of spice and light-handed minerality and earth notes. The fruit wins the day and the texture will have broad appeal. This is a juicy, versatile red that performs admirably for its modest fare ($12.98) and is another sensational ‘teaser’ for what we expect to be a very hedonistic vintage.