Laurence Féraud joined her father, Paul Féraud, in the family winery in 1987, helping him shift the focus from selling juice to bottling their own wines. Today, the estate is one of the region’s top names, farming nearly...
Laurence Féraud joined her father, Paul Féraud, in the family winery in 1987, helping him shift the focus from selling juice to bottling their own wines. Today, the estate is one of the region’s top names, farming nearly 52 acres spread throughout Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Da Capo is the estate’s top bottling, produced only in years the duo agrees are exceptional, and focused on the fruit of their oldest vines, some of which date to 1905. All of Châteauneuf’s 13 grape varieties are represented in the blend, fermented with their stems and ambient yeasts in cement tanks; the wine then rested for two years in old oak casks. One whiff of this 2015 might transport you directly to a sunny day in the southern Rhône, with its fresh, herbal breeziness and lush, ripe fruit tones. But it’s the way those scents and flavors array on the palate that’s exceptional, with a precision that brings to mind the clean lines and harmonic colors of an English garden. It feels well cultivated instead of worked, the flavors transparent, layered, held aloft by a fine-boned structure that keeps the wine vibrant for days after opening. Delicious now, this should age well for the next 20 years.