2016 Vaudieu Chateauneuf du Pape L'Avenue
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Tasting notes
Glistening ruby-red. Powerful red and blue fruit, floral pastille, exotic spice and incense aromas pick up a smoky mineral nuance as the wine stretches out. Fleshy and expansive in the mouth, offering spice- and smoke-inflected raspberry, boysenberry, lavender pastille and succulent herb flavors and a touch of candied licorice. Finishes seamless, sweet and impressively long, with an echo of juicy red fruit and delicate tannins that add discreet grip.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Joe Czerwinski, Wine Advocate
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The 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape L'Avenue is all Grenache sourced from a single parcel near the estate and aged 18 months in demi-muids. This deeply colored beauty boasts a huge perfume of black raspberries, blackberries, dried flowers, bouquet garni, and sandy/loamy soil notes. With a powerful, concentrated, structured style, incredible purity of fruit, and tons of tannin on the finish, hide bottles for 3-5 years, count yourself lucky, and enjoy over the following decade or more. 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.
The 2016 Chateauneuf du Pape l'Avenue is entirely Grenache from the lieu-dit Vaudieu, aged in demi-muids. Loaded with black cherries, cedar and vanilla, it's a full-bodied, plush sexpot of a wine. Velvety, intense, long and layered, this wine has it all. If only there were more than 350 cases of this elixir.
Brilliant violet. A highly perfumed bouquet evokes ripe red fruit, exotic spices and candied flowers, along with subtle garrigue and mineral flourishes. Sweet, seamless and energetic on the palate, offering concentrated Chambord, spicecake and cola flavors sharpened by a late jolt of spicy white pepper. The spicy quality builds steadily through an extremely long, supple finish that's given shape by fine-grained, harmonious tannins.