2019 Domaine Giraud Châteauneuf-du-Pape Les Gallimardes

The 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape Les Gallimardes reveals a dense purple/plum color as well as a ripe, decadent bouquet of ripe black cherries, fruit cake, ground pepper, and garrigue. This carries to a full-bodied 2019 revealing wonderful fruit, ripe yet building tannins, and a great finish. It shows the more savory, Provençal style of the vintage nicely and has beautiful fruit as well as a great finish. It's going to need 4-5 years of bottle age and keep for two decades. One of my favorite estates in the world (and I put my money where my mouth is), Domaine Giraud has been impeccably run since 2001 by Marie Giraud, with consulting advice from Philippe Cambie. The style here is a mix of traditional and progressive winemaking, with the Grenache almost always brought up in tank and the Syrah in barrel. The Les Gallimardes cuvée comes from a tiny parcel of very old vines in the southern part of the appellation, and it’s always a more classic, Provençal, sexy wine. The Les Grenaches de Pierre comes from more sandy soils, and it’s always slightly more refined and elegant, yet it rarely, if ever, lacks for richness and depth. In addition to the terrific reds, the whites from this address are consistently outstanding.

Deep, shimmering ruby. Pungent, spice-accented red and dark berry liqueur, licorice, garrigue and potpourri scents show fine detail and minerally lift. Lush and expansive on the palate, offering appealingly sweet black raspberry, cherry and boysenberry flavors that become more lively as the wine opens up. Subtly chewy tannins add shape to the strikingly long, sappy finish, which echoes the floral and spice notes.