2011 Chateauneuf du Pape

(80% grenache, 10% syrah, 5% mourvedre and 5% cinsault ): Brilliant ruby color. Ripe red fruits on the nose, with peppery spices and a floral element adding complexity. Deep and sweet but energetic, showing powerful thrust to its raspberry and bitter cherry flavors. Silky tannins frame the long, pliant finish, which leaves suave spicecake and lavender pastille notes behind. I find this wine very approachable now.

With no Mon Aieul or Reserve des Deux Freres in the vintage, all of the juice went into their 2011 Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Comprised of 80% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 5% Cinsault and 5% Mourvedre and aged half in concrete and half in foudre (Mourvedre and Syrah in demi-muid), it’s a gorgeous wine in the vintage and has layers of sweet black raspberry fruit, licorice, spice-cake and garrigue all emerging from the glass. Medium to full-bodied, rich and textured, with no shortage of fruit, this beauty will drink nicely through 2021. Drink now-2021. An estate that continues to churn out outstanding wine after outstanding wine, regardless of the vintage, Domaine Pierre Usseglio is obviously in fine hands with brothers Jean-Pierre and Thierry Usseglio running the show. Covering roughly 55 acres in the appellation, they normally produce three Chateauneuf du Papes: a traditional made cuvee that’s roughly 75% Grenache and the rest Syrah, Mourvedre and Cinsault; a Grenache dominate Cuvee De Mon Aieul that’s aged in concrete tank; and their top Reserve des Deux Freres, which normally includes some Syrah and sees a small portion in new oak barrels. There was only one Chateauneuf du Pape produced in 2011, and no Reserve des Deux Freres in 2012. Importer: Alain Junguenet, Wines of France, Mountainside, NJ; tel. (908) 654-6173

(based on 80% grenache): Opaque ruby. Deeply pitched aromas and flavors of dark berries, cherry and licorice, with a spicy topnote. Sappy and expansive, with uncommon weight for the vintage. Finishes sweet and long, with resonating spiciness and supple tannins. This is the only bottling that Usseglio will make from 2011 so all of the fruit from the estate's oldest vines is in here.