2009 Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage Jacques Perrin

Always a treat to taste a mature vintage alongside the younger one being released, as a reminder of what this wine can grow into. If this is released alongside (to be determined) it will be in tiny quantities. A raspberry and turmeric sweetness, as the structure of the wine has opened and relaxed with age. Dominated by spices and liquorice root, still full of vivacious freshness with raspberry and bilberry fruits, this takes you right to Châteauneuf-du-Pape with its warming stones, its mixed dried herbs, its heat, power and generosity.

Very intense and dense. Intriguing red pepper, beef, black cherry, allspice and juniper character. Plenty of tannin, though they have been massaged into digestible form. Long, chocolate and baked black fruit finish. Both incredibly intense yet incredibly nuanced. (RH)

Shockingly good, the 2009 Châteauneuf du Pape Hommage À Jacques Perrin offers an off-the-charts bouquet of Provençal herbs, truffle and wet-dog-like qualities intermixed with classic blueberry, blackberry and cassis fruit. Massive and full-bodied on the palate, with a sheer density and decadence that’s hard to believe, this is a pedal-to-the-metal effort that has the fruit to drink beautifully today, yet the concentration, mid-palate, tannin and balance to age for 3-4 decades. Made from a blend of 60% Mourvedre, 20% Syrah and the rest Counoise and Grenache, this is one of the wines of the vintage.