2016 Chateauneuf du Pape

Moving to the Châteauneuf-du-Pape from bottle, the 2016 vintage was described as having the power of 2010 and similar to yet fresher than 2007. The 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape offers a great bouquet of black raspberries, tapenade, crushed violets, and spring flowers, and shares lots of similarities to the Chaupin cuvée (and it’s less expensive!). Full-bodied, incredibly elegant and seamless, it might be the finest traditional cuvée ever produced from this estate. You’ll be hard pressed to find a better run estate than that of Domaine de Janasse, which has been in the Sabon family since 1967. Today it’s the brother and sister pair of Christophe and Isabelle Sabon at the helm, and they continue to produce a bevy of sensational Côtes du Rhônes and Châteauneuf du Papes from their vines in the northeastern region of Châteauneuf-du-Pape and around the village of Courthézon. While they’ve pulled back on the pedal-to-the-metal style of the early and mid-2000s, their wines today offer more purity, precision, and elegance while still possessing ample hedonistic fireworks. In short, these are brilliant wines that readers need to snatch up.

The 2016 Chateauneuf du Pape exhibits more dark fruit than I would've expected, with black cherries, black olives and tar all mingling on the nose. In the mouth, the blend of 70% Grenache, 15% Mourvèdre, 10% Syrah and 5% Cinsault is full-bodied, rich and velvety, with a lush, lingering finish. Easy to drink now, it should age for at least a decade just on its sheer concentration and ripeness.