Le Pigeoulet, Vaucluse, Frédéric & Daniel Brunier 2022

"It’s appealingly full and generous in style, but not remotely hefty, and brings waves of elegant energy and freshness to rich cherry and blackberry fruit and notes of spices, herbs, liquorice, black tapenade and chocolate.

In summer it can be drunk lightly chilled (around 14ºC). In deep midwinter you could take it up to 17º, which you will have spotted is well below the average room temperature. For the record, there isn’t any wine I would want to drink at over 18ºC and only a few I would drink at 18º. But don’t let me get on that hobby horse here – Pigeoulet is too interesting.

It’s a wine with a grand pedigree. The family behind it is Brunier, as the main label says, and the back of the bottle reveals that it’s the Brunier brothers of the legendary Vieux Télégraphe, one of the foremost Châteauneuf-du-Pape estates.

They make this wine in the same spirit as Vieux Télégraphe – so, no wonder it' good – and from their own organically cultivated vineyard holdings in and around Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Vaucluse is the department name in the southern Rhône, the same as for Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and it's also the name of the Vins de Pays.

The 2022 vintage is a blend of 55% Grenache, 15% Syrah, 15% Carignan, 8% Cinsault and 7% Mourvèdre, just as you might find in a Châteauneuf, and it was aged in traditional foudres (very large oak casks).

In fact in 2022 no red Vieux Télégraphe was made because La Crau, the stony heart of the vineyard, was hit by a tornado and hail at the end of August. So, the 2022 Pigeolet is a chance to get an affordable mini taste of what might have been.

It’s a red wine that pairs with beef, lamb, pork – steaks, chops and roasts (especially with rosemary), as well as casseroles and mild tagines. It goes well with vegetables, including caramelised roast roots, pumpkins, onions and Mediterranean veg and ratatouille-type stews, and it also goes with cheeses such as medium-aged Comté, mature Gouda, Ossau Iraty, Manchego and other sheep’s cheeses, and Le Templais Fleurons (from Lot et Garonne in southwest France)."

Joanna Simon, 'Wine of the Week', www.joannasimon.com, 12th September, 2024

Made from grapes grown just outside the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation, this wine is mellow and warm just like a miniature Châteauneuf. Another excellent wine from the Brunier stable.