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Mounir Saouma pointed that “there was a big surprise in the way we were originally talking about a full-bodied vintage in 2016 but then ended up with a more classical style.” He noted that in 2017, “there’s a disconnect in the numbers: pHs are low, acidity is low, alcohol is low. The white wines were…

ROTEM & MOUNIR SAOUMA Burgundy-based Mounir Saouma continues to make exotic, singular wines from his cellar located north of Orange.The estate likes to include lots of press wine, keep wine on skins for years, and bottle unfined and unfiltered. 2016 Rotem & Mounir Saouma Châteauneuf-du-Pape Arioso 96-99 MATURITY 2022 – 2042The 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Arioso is…

Andrew Jefford meets the Burgundy and Châteauneuf specialist Mounir Saouma… The Saouma cellar at Vieux Bouigard near Orange. Credit: Andrew Jefford “I was born in 1967. That’s what it says on the paper. But in reality I was born in 1867. They just put me in the Frigidaire and took me out again 100 years…

Lucien Le Moine Montrachet Grand Cru 2015Score 100Mind-blowing aromas of dried apples and dried mushrooms with hints of peat. Sicilian lemons, too. Full-bodied, dense and powerful. Yet, dry and vivid with a sense of muscle and dryness. Very tensioned and formed. Drink or hold. It’s a white for decades ahead. Lucien Le Moine Mazis-Chambertin Grand…

Châteauneuf-du-Pape Arioso 2013Score: 95Beguiling, with Lapsang souchong tea, singed cinnamon, clove and warm cassis aromas leading the way for a rich and silky core of crushed cherry and raspberry fruit flavors. Everything glides together through the refined, incense-filled finish. Best from 2020 through 2035. Châteauneuf-du-Pape Omnia 2014Score: 94This is beguiling, with swirling notes of violet,…

Mounir Saouma’s Châteauneuf-du-Pape cuvées are unlike anything else out there The last time I caught up with Mounir Saouma in Châteauneuf, he was taking over a parcel of vines in the Pignan lieu-dit that wasn’t doing well. One in three vines were dead and the vigneron had his work cut out for him. I could…

SAOUMA RHONE By Jeb DunnuckThis domaine is owned by Burgundy-based Mounir and Rotem Saouma, and you can certainly find more than passing resemblances to high-class Burgundies in these wines. They prefer long elevages, with the wines spending plenty of time on skins in amphoras and casks. These are expensive, yet beautiful wines. 2014 Rotem &…

Mounir and Rotem Saouma established their two-person micro-négoce in 1999 that focuses exclusively on the very best 1ers and grands crus in both red and white. They describe the 2015 as a “vintage that in our view is somewhat misunderstood in the sense that it is not nearly as forward and easy as some people…