Hommage à Jacques Perrin - Château Beaucastel

Wine Advocate

96 / 100

par Jeb Dunnuck le 28/02/2015

Already forward and approachable (especially by this cuvee’s standards), the 2011 Châteauneuf du Pape Hommage À Jacques Perrin offers up classic blueberry, violets, beef blood and earthy, mineral qualities on the bouquet. Downright sexy on the palate, with full-bodied richness and a voluptuous, mouth-filling texture, it nevertheless has ample tannin and concentration, all of which build nicely on the palate. While it will have upward of three decades of longevity, it will be one of the more approachable Hommage A Jacques Perrins in its youth as well. Drink 2017-2036

Coming mostly from a plot of old vines located behind the estate, the Perrin Family’s Châteauneuf du Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin was first created in 1989 and is a tribute to the late Jacques Perrin, who passed away in 1978. Aged all in foudre and normally a blend of 60% Mourvedre, 20% Grenache, 10% Counoise and the rest Syrah, it’s only produced in top vintages and there’s normally a scant 400-500 cases to go around. It’s an incredible, yet atypical Châteauneuf du Pape due to its high Mourvèdre content. While most vintages require upwards of a decade of cellaring, the more forward, sexy vintages can certainly be enjoyable in their youth as well.

Vinous

95 / 100

le 31/01/2014

Saturated ruby. Heady, expansive aromas of black and blue fruit liqueur, potpourri and incense, with smoky Indian spices emerging with air. Juicy, strikingly intense blackberry and blueberry flavors are complicated by notes of minerals and candied violet, with a subtle peppery quality adding bite. Velvety tannins give shape to the extremely long, spicy, penetrating finish, with the floral note echoing. This stunning, palate-staining wine gets my vote as the best Chateauneuf of its vintage.

Wine Advocate

98 / 100

par Jeb Dunnuck le 31/10/2013

Only made in top vintages and a blend of roughly 60% (or more) Mourvedre and the rest a mix of other permitted varieties, the 2011 Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage a Jacques Perrin is a cellar selection that always comes from the same plot of vines. A massive, powerful wine, with serious amounts of extract and concentration, it slowly gives up gamey, complex (and heavenly) notes of blueberry, blackberry, blood, licorice, garrigue and smoke. This flows to a full-bodied, layered and brilliantly textured effort that conceals its tannic spine with tons of fruit. It should start to hit its prime at about age 10 and have two to three decades of longevity. Drink 2017-2029+.

Covering a full 175 acres in Chateauneuf du Pape, with significant holdings throughout the Southern Rhone (mostly vinified at and released under their Famille Perrin brand), Chateau De Beaucastel is a benchmark estate that excels at all price points. Looking at the wines reviewed here, 2011 is surprisingly strong (especially for the Chateauneufs) and with their perfumed aromatics and supple textures, they show a lot of similarities to the 2009s. The 2012s as a whole show more freshness and purity, with good concentration, and should require more bottle age to come around. Both vintages are worth seeking out. Looking at the 2011s across the board, all of which were in bottle, it appears to be a strong vintage here. While the vintage suffered due to uneven ripening in the Grenache, it was actually a solid vintage for Mourvedre and this shows, particularly in the Chateauneufs.

Wine Advocate

91-94 / 100

par Robert Parker le 01/10/2012

There is a potential cuvee that might end up being labeled 2011 Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage a Jacques Perrin. As you can see, my rating for this wine is probably one of the lower ratings for this estate, even though it is a brilliant wine given the vintage. The Hommage cuvee was first made in 1989. At the time of my visit, the Perrins were still uncertain as to whether its evolution would justify a separate bottling. The wine displays considerable tannin, and is full-bodied with Mourvedre's meaty, blood-like component intermixed with blue fruits, tree bark and porcini mushrooms. While dense it is certainly not at the level of the greatest vintages of Hommage to date. It will be interesting to see where this wine ends up, either declassified into Beaucastel's 2011, or bottled separately.

(Not yet released)

As I said last year, the Perrin family is a large one indeed, with brothers Jean-Pierre and Francois sitting at the top of the hierarchy and their four sons, Mathieu, Pierre, Thomas and Marc increasingly taking charge of their negociant business and their extensive estates throughout Southern Rhone. Now controlling over 1200 acres, as well as having a network of contracts, this operation is the equivalent of a major Southern Rhone train operating at high speed. Moreover, they are doing some incredible work in all price ranges. Other 2011s that the Perrin boys have produced include the following wines, which were very good across the board, especially for 2011s. In particular, readers need to take a hard look at their estate in Vinsobres, which is making the finest wines of that appellation, and more recently, what they are doing in Gigondas with the estate they purchased there, Clos des Tourelles. These are special wines. There are now three cuvees of Gigondas from the Perrins - the Gigondas La Gille, the Gigondas Vieilles Vignes and the Gigondas Clos des Tourelles. All three merit serious attention. Tasting the 2010s, which were all set to go into bottle right after my visit, certainly shows that this vintage is impressive, although I'm not sure that Marc and Pierre Perrin haven't done as good a job with their selections in 2011. Three cuvees of Gigondas look to all have outstanding potential and will probably be in bottle by the time this report is published.