Clos des Papes, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Rouge 2016

The 2016 Chateauneuf du Pape is full-bodied but balanced, with plenty of richness and concentration but also a certain paradoxical lightness. It offers complex garrigue and anise notes, a blend of cherry and raspberry fruit, a silky texture and a long finish that shows no sign of the wine's high alcohol levels. For technocrats, the wine's pH is 3.7, which is sufficient acidity to maintain a fine sense of balance. This lovely wine should drink well for at least two decades. Together with the 2015 and the 2017, it will be a compelling trio of wines to follow over the years.

Lurid ruby. A complex, highly perfumed bouquet evokes raspberry liqueur, cherry compote, exotic spices and candied lavender. Juicy, seamless and alluringly sweet, offering impressively concentrated and sharply delineated flavours of sappy red fruits, succulent herbs, spice cake and candied flowers that spread out steadily on the back half. It is densely packed but also lithe in character, finishing with slow-building tannins that shape the exuberant red fruit on the extremely long, sappy and penetrating finish.

Drink 2023 - 2040