2019 | Rotem & Mounir Saouma | Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc Arioso

Bottled with minimal added sulfur, the wine feels like a sleeping giant, monolithic in its brooding black fruit; then energy begins to course through the wine, awakening details over the span of many days. The blackberry flavors are completely saturated with dark, chewy tannins, muscular but so fine that they aren’t bruising.

Reviews:

• Vinous: Deep shimmering magenta. Intensely perfumed, sharply delineated raspberry and boysenberry liqueur aromas are complicated by suggestions of candied flowers and exotic spices, and a subtle touch of earthiness emerges as the wine opens up. Palate-staining red and blue fruit, spicecake and lavender pastille flavors deepen steadily through the midpalate. Blends power and delicacy with a sure hand and finishes extremely long and spicy, with repeating red berry and floral character and fine-grained, harmonious tannins that come in late.

• James Suckling: A bird of a different feather, from the beguiling charms of the floral and red fruit aromas to the silky, yet persistent structure that carries the core of kirsch, cherry preserve and violet notes along. Ends with a flurry of incense, rooibos tea and iron accents that gives one pause before taking another sip.

Producer Information

Rotem & Mounir Saouma is an estate based in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, in the Southern Rhône. The eponymous wife-and-husband team also own Lucien Le Moine, a small négociant-éléveur in Burgundy. The latter was founded in the late 1990s. Newly fermented wines are bought from partner growers, then aged and bottled by by the Saoumas. From the mid 2000s they wished to make wine from their own land, but finding vineyard parcels is very difficult in Burgundy. Furthermore they wished to avoid competing directly with partner growers and friends. Instead they looked to the Châteauneuf-du-Pape region - not an easy option either. Their strategy was to work with SAFER, the government-run land sales intermediary, and focus on lots which no on else wanted. Though the nine parcels they bought were often in a terrible state, they were able to access some very well-situated vines. Now 8.4 hectares (20.75 acres) are owned in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, with more in the Côtes du Rhône-Villages AOP. In the cellars, white wines are pressed hard and juice is hyper-oxidized. The wine ferments slowly and gently on the lees. After 16 months or so these wines can still be undergoing malolactic fermentation. The new ferment can look dark brwn in color, but becomes "conventionally" pale while maturing. These techniques are designed to bring long life once bottled. Some reds are made by placing whole bunches in amphorae, which are left alone for a year. The Omnia Châteauneuf is made using large wooden foudres, 500-liter barrels, and cement tanks, including some eggs.

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