2013 Chateauneuf du Pape Reine Bois

Vivid ruby. Intense blackberry and cherry liqueur aromas are complicated by suggestions of lavender, spicecake, garrigue and vanilla. Juicy and focused on the palate, offering flavors of sweet, spice-tinged red fruits and candied flowers. Concentrated and chewy in texture, showing excellent purity and lift to the dark-fruit- and mineral-driven finish.

One of the wines of the vintage is easily the 2013 Châteauneuf du Pape Le Reine des Bois. Mostly Grenache (there’s a fair chunk of Mourvedre and Syrah) that’s raised in a combination of stainless steel and barrels, it offers tons of graphite and crushed rock to go with background blackberry, leather and pepper. Ripe, unctuous and fabulously concentrated, this beautiful Chateauneuf can be drunk today with incredible pleasure, or cellared for a decade.