Domaine du Pégau’s Cuvée Réservée is a very serious wine that is, without a doubt, one of the best Châteauneuf-du-Papes of the vintage; it’s also a paragon example of ultra-traditional Rhône winemaking.
They may only be in their third decade, but Pégau has already topped restaurant and critics’ lists time after time. Like the illustrious Château Beaucastel, Pégau utilizes all 13 authorized grape varieties in their cuvée and extended aging always occurs in neutral foudres (king-sized oak barrels). The end result is dark, delicious, and remarkably fresh, with profound layers of minerality and spice. No heat, no syrup, just astounding depth, texture, and gorgeous aromatics. Should you be on the lookout for top examples of southern Rhône, Domaine du Pégau is a sure bet, and their “rags to riches” story only adds to the appeal. Once you taste Cuvée Réservée, you’ll understand why they attract so much fame—their wine is classic, way underpriced, and genuinely ageworthy. We were lucky to get enough to offer six bottles per customer today—bottles any serious collector would be happy to have in his or her cellar.
Daughter-Father team Laurence and Paul Féraud have a grape-growing lineage in southern Rhône that dates to the 1600s and evidence of winemaking from 1733. Still, Domaine du Pégau didn’t formally exist until 1987. At the time, Laurence was living in Paris and returned home to help her father, Paul, farm the family’s 10 acres of vines. The following year, their first vintage was crafted in a roofless winery—it was still under construction. In an interview with the wine blog Vinography, Laurence recalled the bare-bones operation during their inaugural vintage: We threw the bunches of grapes into the vats and then after 15 or 20 days I got in and took the [grape] must out with a pitchfork. It was my father, me, and one employee.
Money was tight in the beginning years and French wine critic Michel Bettane was their saving grace: He stumbled upon them and penned an article that resulted in much-needed exposure. Soon after, a businessman interested in importing their wines approached them. Upon tasting a few barrel samples, he requested their business, but the Férauds didn’t even have the finances to bottle their wines, so he fronted them cash in order to do so. At the time, Laurence was hand-applying every label—over 800 a day. As years passed, new cuvées were birthed, more vineyards were acquired, and their exports wildly grew. Today, Domaine du Pégau is considered not just one of the great estates of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but the world.
Laurence Féraud, along with her father—still working in his late 70s—and a small team, farm 14 family-owned parcels around the region. Their vines, some reaching the century mark in age, are situated in various soils, mostly of clay and sand. Other parcels lie atop the classic heat-absorbing galets (round stones) of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Laurence’s holdings are predominately Grenache, but she utilizes all 13 permitted grape varieties of the appellation, both in the vineyard and her Cuvée Réservée.” They practice sustainable farming and all grapes are harvested by hand. In the winery, a spontaneous ‘whole-cluster’ fermentation occurs in cement tanks, followed by a twice-daily pump over. After completion, aging takes place in large, neutral foudres—never new oak—for 18-24 months. It is always bottled unfiltered.
In the glass, Domaine du Pégau’s 2013 Cuvée Réservée displays a concentrated and opaque deep ruby core. The nose offers up rich notes of black cherry, currant, licorice, black raspberry liqueur, damp
garrigue, purple and red flowers, wild herbs, finely crushed pepper, olive tapenade, smoked meat, and subtle baking spice. The palate is rich and dense but also lifted and fresh. Richness and freshness may sound like a paradox, but it isn’t: mineral precision enlivens your palate even as the dark fruit coats it. It isn’t overly extracted, but instead a perfect example of how satisfying CdP can be. Though this was a trying vintage for the region, the Férauds nailed it, and you can expect this to perform well over the next 10+ years. If consuming now, do so in large Bordeaux stems after a one-hour decant. Try out the attached Provençal take on venison and make sure to monitor your heat and cooking time—you want the meat to be tender, not tough!
Bon appétit.
