2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge Château de Vaudieu

The 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape has a great nose of garrigue, black raspberries, spice, exotic flowers, and orange peel. With medium to full-bodied, present yet sweet tannin, and a great finish, drink this balanced beauty over the coming decade. The blend is 80% Grenache and 20% Syrah, aged one year in mix of old barrels and concrete tanks.

Even Vadieu's "regular" CdP is excellent. The 2016 Chateauneuf du Pape, an 80-20 blend of Grenache and Syrah mostly aged in concrete, offers ripe red raspberry and apricot notes alongside delicate hints of spice and garrigue. Full-bodied and lush, it shows off wonderfully ripe Grenache fruit without much in the way of other adornment or artifice, finishing long and silky. 2018 - 2030

Deep ruby. Heady aromas of dark berry liqueur, incense and cola, along with a suave floral nuance that builds with air. Smoky and seamless on the palate, offering fleshy, alluringly sweet red and blue fruit, spicecake and candied licorice flavors braced by a spine of juicy acidity. Closes with excellent clarity, smooth tannins and floral-dominated persistence, leaving subtle star anise and boysenberry notes behind.

Gorgeous, with a lush core of raspberry, blueberry and boysenberry puree flavors gliding through, flecked with anise, violet and incense notes. Carried by fresh, well- embedded acidity, this is lush and beguiling through the lengthy finish. Best from 2020 through 2035.-J.M.

Blommer, kirsebær, lækker og perfekt moden frugt. ristet kaffe, chokolade og skiffer. Intens og kraftig vin i snorlige balance der giver vinen elegance, meget imponerende ikke mindst set i relation til de heftige 15% alkohol. En absolut gevinst på et julebord.

Både tæt og ganske poleret i vanlig international stil; det landlige ophav er godt skjult, vinen taler uden mange spor af dialekt, ingen Southern accents her. Men den er yderst vellavet, velafbalanceret, ren og med fin moden frugt.

En Anelse polere, men masser af sund, moden frugtog sydlig, lokal karakter her. Åben og rig med en fyldig charme, der ikke lader noget tilbage at ønske.

Moden og fyldig, men samtidig frisk og mineralsk med ren frugt.