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Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2016
RedFrance2016
By Daniel Min · Tasted 2020-04-03 · Published 2026-09-30 · Updated 2026-09-30
At a glance
In one line
4.5/5 — higher than Vivino's 4.4 average · world avg price US$132 · The bottle where I first truly felt the charm of Rhône wine.
Wine-Searcher aggregate of 12 critic reviews: 95. Quoted by JJ Buckley: James Suckling 99 · Wine Advocate 97 · Wine Spectator 97 · Decanter 96 · Jeb Dunnuck 96+ (checked Sep 2026). Critic scores listed on Vivino 96–99 (Oct 2017–Nov 2018), publication names not shown.
Market note: World average price US$132 / 750ml (Wine-Searcher, ex-tax, Sep 2026). From the same house, Hommage à Jacques Perrin is US$372 (96), Roussanne Vieilles Vignes blanc US$206 (95) and Coudoulet de Beaucastel Côtes du Rhône US$34 on the same basis. The producer calls 2016 an 'exceptional' southern Rhône vintage in both quality and quantity. Every vintage since 2005 with 30+ ratings scores 4.3–4.4 on Vivino.
Father's note — Daniel Min
Original author of the notes“론 와인의 매력을 진짜로 처음 느낀 cdp 한국음식이랑 잘 어울리고 스파이시하다며 론 와인을 즐겨왔는데 그때는 그럭저럭 맛있게 먹었다 느꼈다. 그런데 웬걸 보카스텔은 처음 아로마 땐 강렬하다가 그런저런 론 와인처럼 향수를 느끼듯 풋풋함을 느끼다가 마지막 피니쉬에서 레몬을 입에 머금듯 침이 한껏 고이는데. 와. 와인에서 이렇게 피니쉬를 가져가니 음식들과 함께 하는게 이렇게 즐겁구나. 이런 와인이 또 있을까? 흥미로워 졌다. 비에이비뉴가 더 맛있다는데 찾아봐야겠다.”
Show original
“leather earthy blackberry cherry red fruit raspberry acai berry grass lemon 론와인의 매력을 찐~ 으로 처음 느낀 cdp 한국음식이랑 잘어울리고 스파이시하다며~ 론와인을 즐겨왔는데 그때는 그럭저럭 맛있게 먹었다 느꼈다. 그런데 왠걸 보카스텔은 처음 아로마땐 강렬하다가 그런저런 론 와인처럼 향수를 느끼듯 풋풋함을 느끼다가 마지막 피니쉬에서 레몬을 입에 머금듯 침이 한껏 고이는데~~ 와~~ 와인에서 이렇게 피니쉬를 가져가니 음식들과 함께 하는게 이렇게 즐겁구나!!~~^^ 이런와인이 또 있을까?? 흥미로워 졌다. 비에이비뉴가 더 맛있다는데~~ 찾아봐야겠다!!~~^^”
And that finish gets longer in front of a meal.
Tuesday. Before opening, Master Seo did something rare and switched on the kitchen light. A plate of spicy stir-fried pork and two bowls of rice — the late-lunch-early-dinner he makes for us now and then. As I picked up my chopsticks, he took out a bottle wrapped in cloth and poured a little into my glass. Drink it while you eat, he said. He didn't show me the label.
The first sniff is strong. Leather, wet earth, blackberry, cherry. Then something fresh and green, like grass. So far, no day opened up. But when I took a bite of the spicy pork and emptied the glass, my mouth suddenly watered under my tongue at the end, as if I'd bitten into a slice of lemon. That sourness brought back a whole evening.
Spring when I was twenty-one, a Friday evening while it was still light outside, the kitchen table. There were a couple of spicy side dishes on the table. Father poured into my glass from a cloth-wrapped bottle, then pointed with his chin: take a spoonful of rice first, then drink. I did as he said. As the heat faded, my mouth filled with water, and seeing that, Father laughed. That night the table stayed uncleared longer than usual. I don't know the bottle's name.
I opened the notebook to that date. It's the page with the most emoticons. Father wrote that with this bottle he "really felt, for the first time" the charm of Rhône wine. That on the finish his mouth watered "as if holding lemon," and that drinking with food was this much fun. Four and a half stars. The bottle was Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape. I stuck on a wine-name Post-it. At the very bottom is a line saying the "Vieilles Vignes is supposed to be better" and he should look for it. Maybe that evening Father was already plotting the next bottle.
Clearing the plates, Master Seo told me thirteen kinds of grapes go into this bottle. Few houses use every variety the village allows without leaving one out. And this house puts in an unusual amount of Mourvèdre. When I read him the last line of the note, he looked down at the bottle for a moment and only said, let's leave that for another day.
After closing, I wrote the bottle's name on the seventh page of my new notebook. Under the scent line I drew one more line and wrote 'finish.' What I learned today: some wines you remember under your tongue before your nose. And that finish gets longer in front of a meal.
What this wine is
The name comes from the Beaucastel family, who lived in Courthézon in the 16th century. Records show a Pierre de Beaucastel buying a barn and land at Coudoulet in 1549, and that land is still part of the estate. After phylloxera wrecked the vineyards in the 19th century, Pierre Tramier bought the property in 1909 and replanted it, and his son-in-law Pierre Perrin greatly expanded it. The next owner, Jacques Perrin, set the house's course. In the 1950s it became one of the first estates in Châteauneuf-du-Pape to farm organically, and in the 1970s it took up biodynamic methods. Jacques ran it until 1978; his sons Jean-Pierre and François followed, and today the next generation of Perrins runs the estate.
The number that explains this house is 13. It grows all thirteen varieties the Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC allows and puts every one of them in its red — a rarity. The other signature is Mourvèdre: in a village where Grenache rules, Beaucastel uses an unusually large share of it. The 2016 is Grenache 30%, Mourvèdre 30%, Syrah 15%, Counoise 10%, Cinsault 5% and the other eight varieties 10%. Each variety is hand-picked and fermented separately, then the blend spends a year in large oak foudres. The producer calls 2016 an 'exceptional' southern Rhône vintage for both quality and quantity.
What the world says
The critics were unusually generous with this vintage: James Suckling 99 ("A classic!"), Wine Advocate 97, Wine Spectator 97 (best 2023–2040), Decanter 96, Jeb Dunnuck 96+ (as quoted by JJ Buckley). The critic scores listed on Vivino run from 96 to 99.
On Vivino this vintage averages 4.4 from 4,563 ratings, and the label as a whole is also 4.4 from 51,550. Every vintage since 2005 with at least 30 ratings sits between 4.3 and 4.4 — the numbers show a house that barely wavers from year to year. The most-mentioned aromas are the earth group — leather, earth, smoke (3,403) — then blackberry and plum (3,142), oak and tobacco (2,265), cherry and raspberry (2,022), pepper and licorice (1,657). Structure: intensity 4.6/5, acidity 3.1, tannin 2.9, sweetness 1.7. Suggested drinking window 2021–2036.
"Silky smooth CDP - all 13 grapes in the mix - great with steaks by the fire" — Vivino review, Feb 2021, 4.5
How I drank it
3 April 2020, 4.5. I left a long note. I listed leather, earth, blackberry, cherry, raspberry, açaí, grass and lemon, and began: "the CdP where I first truly felt the charm of Rhône wine."
I'd been drinking Rhône wines because people said they were spicy and went well with Korean food, but until then they'd only been 'pretty good.' Two months earlier I gave Domaine Charvin Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2015 a 3.5. Beaucastel was different. The first aromas were intense, then came a fresh, perfume-like greenness, and on the very finish my mouth watered as if I were holding lemon on my tongue. Because of that finish, I thought: so this is how much fun it is to drink wine with food. At the end of the note I wrote that the 'Vieilles Vignes' is supposed to be even better, and I should look for it.
At Beaucastel the bottle called 'Vieilles Vignes' (old vines) is a white: the 100% Roussanne Vieilles Vignes (first vintage 1986). The top red is a separate cuvée, 'Hommage à Jacques Perrin' (first vintage 1989, Mourvèdre-led). The note doesn't say which one I meant. My 4.5 is nearly the same as the Vivino community's 4.4 — with this bottle, the numbers and my palate pointed the same way.
Where this wine shows up
In volume 10 Shizuku drinks Beaucastel Roussanne V.V. 1999 at Tomioka's villa and moves closer to 'V.V.', a clue to the Third Apostle. In volume 11 Issei picks Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 1981 as a Third Apostle candidate, but it isn't the answer.
Comic Gourmet — The Drops of God vol. 10 wine list · France.fr (Atout France) — Wines in the anime The Drops of God
Records show Pierre de Beaucastel buying land at Coudoulet in 1549; in 1909 Pierre Tramier bought the phylloxera-wrecked vineyards and replanted them. The Perrin family has run it since his son-in-law Pierre Perrin, farming organically from the 1950s, and the red uses all thirteen varieties the AOC allows.
Wikipedia — Château de Beaucastel · iDealwine — Château de Beaucastel in Châteauneuf, a historic estate
Artwork and stills are not reproduced for copyright reasons; scenes are summarised.
Vivino community data
2016 vintage rating distribution (4563 ratings, average 4.4)
| 5★ | 1187 (26%) | |
| 4★ | 3041 (67%) | |
| 3★ | 262 (6%) | |
| 2★ | 31 (1%) | |
| 1★ | 42 (1%) |
Most-mentioned aromas
| Family | Mentions | Top keywords |
|---|---|---|
| Earth & leather | 3403 | leather 1155 · earthy 646 · smoke 406 · mushroom 186 · minerals 146 |
| Black fruit | 3142 | blackberry 831 · plum 605 · black fruit 316 · dark fruit 269 · black cherry 242 |
| Oak | 2265 | oak 509 · tobacco 449 · vanilla 294 · chocolate 238 · cedar 147 |
| Red fruit | 2022 | cherry 739 · red fruit 381 · raspberry 356 · strawberry 192 · red cherry 113 |
| Spice | 1657 | pepper 593 · licorice 384 · white pepper 91 · cinnamon 71 · savory 66 |
Structure: Acidity 3.1/5 · Intensity 4.6/5 · Tannin 2.9/5 · Sweetness 1.7/5
Average by vintage (all vintages: 51550 ratings, average 4.4)
| Vintage | Average | Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 4.4 | 1588 |
| 2006 | 4.4 | 2294 |
| 2007 | 4.4 | 2446 |
| 2008 | 4.3 | 2088 |
| 2009 | 4.4 | 3543 |
| 2010 | 4.4 | 1878 |
| 2011 | 4.4 | 1943 |
| 2012 | 4.4 | 2754 |
| 2013 | 4.3 | 1710 |
| 2014 | 4.4 | 2233 |
| 2015 | 4.4 | 2754 |
| 2016 | 4.4 | 4563 |
| 2017 | 4.4 | 3265 |
| 2018 | 4.4 | 710 |
| 2019 | 4.4 | 1476 |
| 2020 | 4.3 | 931 |
| 2021 | 4.3 | 622 |
| 2022 | 4.3 | 303 |
| 2023 | 4.3 | 95 |
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→Frequently asked questions
What kind of wine is Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape?
The red the Perrin family makes in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, southern Rhône. It uses all thirteen permitted varieties with a high share of Mourvèdre. The 2016 is 30% each Grenache and Mourvèdre, aged a year in large foudres. Critics 96–99, Vivino 4.4 (4,563 ratings).
How much does it cost?
Wine-Searcher's world average is US$132 per 750ml (ex-tax, Sep 2026). It's sold at 106 stores, from US$71.42 (UK, in bond), mostly US$80–115. The same house's Roussanne Vieilles Vignes blanc is US$206, about 1.6 times this red, and Hommage à Jacques Perrin US$372.
What food goes with it?
The Vivino community suggests lamb, pork and poultry. For me, the lemon-like finish of this bottle was most fun with food.
What are Beaucastel's 'Vieilles Vignes' and 'Hommage à Jacques Perrin'?
'Vieilles Vignes' means old vines; at Beaucastel it's the name of the 100% Roussanne white, Roussanne Vieilles Vignes (first vintage 1986). The top red cuvée is 'Hommage à Jacques Perrin', made since 1989 in honour of Jacques Perrin, who ran the estate until 1978, and led by Mourvèdre.
Links & sources
View on Vivino · Prices on Wine-Searcher
- Vivino — wine page and community data
- Famille Perrin — Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge 2016 tech sheet
- JJ Buckley — 2016 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape
- The Wine Cellar Insider — Château de Beaucastel
- Wikipedia — Château de Beaucastel
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