Only produced in top vintages (this is the first since 2012), the 2015 Cornas Vieilles Fontaines comes from 80-year-old vines within the La Fontaine lieu-dit. It's a tough wine to evaluate at this stage, as it's quite... Read More
Now, this is more like it. A big step up from the disjointed Les Chailles, the 2019 Cornas Vieilles Vignes is a classic rendering of Cornas, with hints of crushed stone, mint, blueberries and red berries on the nose. It's... Read More
Starting with his 2011 Cornas, it's a rocking wine in the vintage that's still showing every bit as well as it did on release. Massive minerality, violets, bloody meat and sweet blackcurrant and black raspberry-like fruit... Read More
Two great back to back vintages are the 1990 and 1989. The more developed 1990 boasts an incredible perfume of hickory wood, coffee, smoked meat, Asian spices, black cherries, and blackberries. Lush, opulent, and full-bodied,... Read More
The 1994 seems less successful than my early tastings indicated. The high percentage of Mourvedre (40% versus the normal 30%) has given it an earthy, leathery character with hints of mushrooms and tree bark. Although dense and... Read More
The opaque ruby/purple-colored 2000 Chateauneuf du Pape offers a profoundly sweet perfume of melted licorice, blackberries, and black cherries backed up by loads of glycerin, full body, and moderately high but sweet, well-integrated... Read More
The 2003 Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape turned out as well as I could have hoped and is certainly an outstanding wine, deep ruby/purple with a tight but promising nose of black fruits, loamy, earthy notes intermixed with pepper,... Read More
The 2013 Châteauneuf du Pape is a beauty and has a rare level of concentration and depth in the vintage. Blueberry, crushed flowers, pepper, and violet aromas and flavors flow nicely to a medium to full-bodied, structured and... Read More
The 2004 Châteauneuf du Pape Hommage Ŕ Jacques Perrin continues to show well, and was even more open from this bottle than from one earlier this year. While still youthful, it has beautiful complexity and depth on the palate,... Read More
Tasted three weeks after bottling, I couldn't quite bring myself to give the elusive three-digit score to this admittedly super wine. Perhaps once the 2016 Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage ŕ Jacques Perrin has been in bottle a... Read More
This is a Provencal, peppery, spicy, garrigue-scented wine, with extraordinary concentration, loads of glycerin, full body, yet no sense of heaviness or lack of definition. Enormously-endowed and majestic, it possesses a huge... Read More
The Cuvee Centenaire is produced from ancient vine (planted in 1889) Grenache (80% of the blend, along with 8% Syrah and 12% Mourvedre). The 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Centenaire is superior to the 2000, but slightly behind... Read More
The 2016 Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc Extrait is a stunning blend of 80% Roussanne and 20% Grenache Blanc, matured in concrete and demi-muids. This medium to full-bodied wine is lush and creamy on the palate yet stays zesty and fresh,... Read More
Crushed rock, spring flowers and a liqueur of granite are all present in the inky/purple colored 2010 Ermitage L'Ermite. It is almost a crime trying to describe a wine such as this, since so few people will ever get to taste... Read More
The 2006 Chateauneuf du Pape blanc (80% Roussanne and the rest Marsanne, Picpoul, and Bourboulenc) possesses classic notes of orange marmalade, honeysuckle, and rose petals, a full-bodied, unctuous texture, gorgeous purity and... Read More
The 2003 Clos des Papes Chateauneuf du Pape (the # 2 wine in the Wine Spectator's annual winefest) has long been one of the most profound wines of the vintage. It somehow manages to offer the vintage's character in power,... Read More
WA 98 (10/2008): The 2006 Chateauneuf du Pape is one of the two or three candidates for the wine of the vintage. An extraordinarily great wine, the 2006 is far superior to the 2005, which was amazing, and while made in a different... Read More
Considered by Paul-Vincent to be a hypothetical blend of the '05 and the '07, the 2009 Chateauneuf du Pape was showing its Mourvedre component on this occasion and had lots of kirsch, spice-box, dried flowers, Provencal... Read More
Mind blowing stuff, the 2010 Chateauneuf du Pape is most likely the greatest wine ever from this estate. Still inky colored, it has a powerful, slightly backward feel in its crushed rocks, cassis, kirsch, toasted spice, licorice... Read More
The 2016 Chateauneuf du Pape is full-bodied but balanced, with plenty of richness and concentration but also a certain paradoxical lightness. It offers complex garrigue and anise notes, a blend of cherry and raspberry fruit, a... Read More
This is a stunner, offering a gorgeous core of black tea-infused cassis, plum reduction and raspberry puree flavors. Additional black licorice, black tea and incense notes emerge alongside the fruit on the long, lush, seductive... Read More
Almost entirely Grenache from les Bédines, the 2019 Chateauneuf du Pape Les Safres delivers ripe black-cherry fruit and is remarkably silky and full-bodied on the mid-palate, then turns more firmly tannic and dusty on the finish.... Read More
With only about 100 cases produced each year, finding a bottle of the 2015 Cote Rotie la Landonne will prove much harder than drinking it. It's indeed a terrific wine but a bit closed and cedary at this particular moment,... Read More
The 2010 Cote Rotie Seigneur de Maugiron has fleshed out since last year offering notes of black olives, garrigue, licorice, forest floor, bacon fat, raspberries and black currants. This medium-bodied Cote Rotie veers more toward... Read More