le Clos du Caillou, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Les Quartz 2019

Moving to the tiny production 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape Les Quartz, which is mostly Grenache with around 25% or so of Syrah, it has a rich, full-bodied, dense, and almost backward style to go with powerful black fruits, ground pepper, and violet aromas and flavors. I love its purity of fruit, and it builds nicely with time in the glass, showing more mid-palate depth as well as ripe tannins. It’s a stunning bottle of wine, but patience will be required. Hide bottles for 4-5 years and enjoy over the following two decades.

Deep liquorice and tarragon freshness here, this has a voluptuous texture, very rounded and generous. Ends firms and powerful, it's a wine with plenty of presence and has squished blackberry fruits into the long length. Very well balanced for a powerful wine. Grown half on large pebbles, half on sand in lieu-dit Les Cassanets, destemmed, then fermented mostly in concrete, then matured mostly in demi-muid except for 10% in amphora.

Deep magenta. Heady, finely detailed aromas of mineral-tinged red/blue fruit preserves, incense and garrigue are complemented by a suave floral topnote. Alluringly sweet and seamless on the palate, offering impressively concentrated raspberry, boysenberry, spicecake and candied licorice flavors braced by a core of juicy acidity. Finishes with outstanding clarity, polished tannins and floral-driven persistence, leaving an exotic hint of five-spice powder behind.

Black cherries and dark chocolate swirl together on the nose of the 2019 Chateauneuf du Pape Les Quartz, which somehow manages to retain a mouthwatering sense of freshness on the finish despite the massive ripeness. Full-bodied, richly velvety in feel and expansive in the mouth, this is an impressive effort that's sure to please when young.