2015 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Special

(sourced from vines more than 100 years old in La Crau and made entirely with whole clusters) Lurid ruby. Deeply perfumed cherry, raspberry, licorice and Asian spice aromas open up with air and pick up suggestions of candied flowers and smoky minerals. Palate-staining red berry and bitter cherry flavors are lifted and given focus by a core of smoky minerality. Concentrated and seamless in texture, delivering outstanding closing thrust, supple tannins and lingering florality.

99% Grenache (over 100 years old), 1% mystery grape! Bottom of La Crau on sandy soils. 100% whole bunch, aged in one- and two-year-old barrels. (No Châteauneuf Vieilles Vignes this year because Michel Tardieu thought the sandy soils succeeded more than the galets.) Deep ruby. Very rich nose. Really intense fruit followed by almost medicinal flavours and masses of tannin. Ambitious. But great finesse of texture too. And quite a bit of alcohol on the end with real juiciness. (JR)

As to the reds, all of these show beautiful purity of fruit and impeccably made profiles. As a whole, 2015 was consistent throughout the Southern Rhône, and you see that consistency in this lineup. From 100-year-old Grenache vines planted in sandy parts of the La Crau lieu-dit, the blockbuster 2015 Châteauneuf du Pape Cuvée Spéciale knocks it out of the park with its decadent notes of kirsch, blackberries, Provençal garrigue and graphite aromas and flavors. Full-bodied, deep, rich and concentrated, it has an inherent, Grenache-driven sexiness that I adore. Dec 2016, www.robertparker.com