Domaine de la Charbonniere Vacqueyras 2020

The Maret family originally bought their incredible Domaine de la Charbonniere Estate back in 1912 and have been farming it themselves, by hand, generation after generation ever since. Michel Maret, the grandson of founder Eugene, has largely allowed the reins to finally pass to daughters Caroline and Veronique (though not if you ask them!)

For those in the know, the estate has long been firmly established with the wine press. Robert Parker, Jr., once penned: “This is one of the most well-run estates in Chateauneuf du Pape thanks to the meticulous and passionate efforts of proprietor Michel Maret.”

Amazingly, the estate seems to be in even better hands now. Once Michel handed the reins down to his daughters, they promptly turned out a CDP that wound up at number 30 on Wine Spectator’s 2019 Top 100 Wines of the Year list.

This Vacqueyras is a text-book example from this great region for value. It’s a big, juicy, seductive wine that is priced far better than every CDP you’re going to find, even though this bottling gives just about any baseline CDP a run for its money.