2019 Chateauneuf du Pape

Moving to the 2019s from bottle, beautifully pure notes of cassis and black cherries as well as new leather, candied orange, and violets emerge from the 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape, a medium to full-bodied, beautifully balanced, elegant 2019 that has perfectly ripe yet substantial tannins. Do your best to hide bottles for 4-5 years (or more), and it will evolve for two decades in cold cellars. This is another fine set of releases from this historic estate. There are two Châteauneuf produced today, a classic cuvée that’s a blend of all the terroirs of the domaine, and the Le Plateau cuvée, which is more Syrah-heavy and comes exclusively from the upper Mont-Redon plateau and incredibly rocky, pebbly soils. These wines do see some new oak today, which is evident in their youth, so bottle age is advised if you’re oak adverse.

60% Grenache, 31% Syrah, 8% Mourvèdre, 1% others. Aged in new barriques (12%), used barriques (38%) and stainless steel (50%). Cask sample. Tasted blind. Primary with a savoury character on the nose – lovely richness of fruit and layered tannins. There is a ground-coffee note on the back (oak char?) that should integrate with time. Needs time. (AC)