You can't talk about Châteauneuf-du-Pape without talking about the Bruniers, who've been working the plateau of La Crau for over a century. Organic farming on the most celebrated cru of the southern Rhône. The 2022 is a Grenache blend built for right now, not for the cellar: dark fruit wrapped in something resinous and green, fir and pine needle, the smell of a house in December. A hundred years on one plateau, and it still comes across as generous rather than serious.
Tasting Notes
If you’re like me, the right patch of light or sliver of sound can transport you to another time. Opening this classic, ready-to-drink bottling from the Brunier family takes me straight to the holidays. Not just because it’s a wine that feels like the marker of a special season, but because it smells like fir and pine sap, the perfect counterbalance to its aromatic red fruit. Made mostly from the La Crau vineyard’s younger vines, it offers up a juicy drinkability that’s both cozy and craveable, all year round.
About the Producer
Since 1891, Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe has stood among France’s great wine estates. In Bédarrides, within the celebrated south-eastern corner of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Henri Brunier gifted his son Hippolyte a parcel of La Crau land, then deemed uncultivable. Undeterred, Hippolyte planted vines on this historic plateau, whose roots trace back to the 14th century. Jules, his son, expanded the estate and named it “Vieux Télégraphe”, honoring the optical telegraph once installed there.
