2010 Domaine du Grand Tinel Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Dark ruby. Red fruit and spice aromas are slow to unfold, picking up spiciness with aeration. Ripe and concentrated, offering chewy raspberry and bitter cherry flavors and a touch of licorice. Finishes with good power and firm but fine-grained tannins. This could use at least a few more years of bottle age.

The delicious, open-knit 2010 Chateauneuf du Pape (80% Grenache, 18% Syrah and 2% Mourvedre) exhibits sexy kirsch liqueur notes intermixed with notions of roasted Provencal herbs, pepper, smoked meats and forest floor. It is a full-bodied, fat, fleshy Chateauneuf with a serious alcoholic punch. Drink it over the next 10-15 years. Both of these 2010s performed significantly better than they did last year. In fact, last year's tasting was somewhat of an aberration given the consistent excellence of the proprietors, the Jeune family, and the omnipresent Philippe Cambie, their consulting oenologist. Importers: various American importers including: J & R Selections, Lansing, MI; tel. (517) 393-4441 and Alain Junguenet, Wines of France, Mountainside, NJ; tel. (908) 654-6173

A blend of 80% Grenache, 18% Syrah, and 2% Mourvedre that’s aged 65% in foudre, 20% in barrique and demi-muid, and the rest in stainless steel, the 2010 Domaine du Grand Tinel Châteauneuf-du-Pape is an outstanding wine that has a relatively traditional feel, as well as age-worthy structure. Boasting quality aromatics of red berry fruits, licorice, toasted spice, and smoked earth, it is medium+ bodied on the palate, has a clean, balanced feel, excellent purity, and enough tannin to allow it to evolve beautifully for upwards of a decade. It is a workhorse Châteauneuf-du-Pape that delivers.