2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Hommage à Jacques Perrin, Château de Beaucastel, Rhône

60% Mourvèdre, 20% Grenache, 20% Syrah.

Deep crimson, from the outstanding vintage for the southern Rhône. Much more intense and focused than most Châteauneuf. Some very obvious sweetness. And then masses of tannin. Decidedly embryonic but with the sweet warmth of a Châteauneuf, albeit in bundled tightly into an iron corset.

Drink 2022 - 2038

Deep vivid magenta. A highly complex bouquet displays candied black and blue fruits, incense and musky earth aromas; violet, licorice and Indian spice notes build in the glass. Sweet and expansive on the palate, offering deeply concentrated, mineral-laced blueberry, cherry compote, fruitcake and floral pastille flavors that are given spicy lift and bite by a late peppery flourish. Tightens up slowly on a strikingly long, chewy, floral-driven finish framed by dusty, steadily building tannins.

Drink 2028 - 2040

Tasted three weeks after bottling, I couldn't quite bring myself to give the elusive three-digit score to this admittedly super wine. Perhaps once the 2016 Chateauneuf du Pape Hommage Jacques Perrin has been in bottle a bit longer, as Mourvdre seems to go into a bit of a funk when recently bottled. For now, it's merely profound, packing in savory, mossy nuances, hints of exotic dried spices like star anise and cardamom and layers of rich, plummy fruit that manage to be full-bodied and deliciously intense without being weighty or overwrought. Creamy, lush, intense and long, it's a tdf tour de force) in CdP.

Drink 2020 - 2050

A tasting of the Courrieux vineyard, a single parcel of Mourvèdre planted in 1909 that always makes up around 70% of the blend. It's a wine that makes you inhale deeply. It has a wonderful, regal, stunning nose of violets, blueberries, and blackcurrant almost. It's seamless on the palate, with some camphor, menthol and rosemary notes to the fruit. There's sublime freshness, and the tannins are full and dense but very ripe. A mouthfilling, mouth coating and very intense wine, with a saline finish. Potentially worthy of a perfect score.

Drink 2027 - 2050