2016 Chateauneuf du Pape

The 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape has a great nose of garrigue, black raspberries, spice, exotic flowers, and orange peel. With medium to full-bodied, present yet sweet tannin, and a great finish, drink this balanced beauty over the coming decade. The blend is 80% Grenache and 20% Syrah, aged one year in mix of old barrels and concrete tanks. Located just across the hill from Rayas, Chateau de Vaudieu continues to make a ripe, sexy, quasi-modern style of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. They release a number of cuvées, most of which are small parcel releases intended to highlight a specific terroir. These are powerful, rich wines that never lose their sense of balance and purity.

Even Vadieu's "regular" CdP is excellent. The 2016 Chateauneuf du Pape, an 80-20 blend of Grenache and Syrah mostly aged in concrete, offers ripe red raspberry and apricot notes alongside delicate hints of spice and garrigue. Full-bodied and lush, it shows off wonderfully ripe Grenache fruit without much in the way of other adornment or artifice, finishing long and silky.