A very complex and complete nose with everything so integrated and beautifully judged. There are ripe blackberries, blood plums, fragrant spices, dark stones and roasted coffee, to name just some of what is already on offer here. The palate has such richness and such build and layering with ripe dark plums and blackberries, clothed in robes of spice-laden, velvety tannins in a majestic mode. Pure class and a great vintage for sure. One of the best ever.

The 2015 Côte Rôtie La Mouline has closed down substantially since I tasted it from barrel, yet it’s nevertheless a magical wine in the making. Sporting a deep, saturated purple color as well as a monster bouquet of crème de cassis, graphite, crushed rocks, and hints of flowers, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, building tannins, and a focused, tight, backward vibe that’s going to need 4-5 years of bottle age. It’s going to be incredibly long-lived.

First made in 1966, the La Mouline comes from a parcel in the Côte Blonde and is the warmest, earliest site of the single vineyards. It includes some of the oldest vines of the estate, sees upwards of 10% co-fermented Viognier, see only pump-overs during fermentation, and has always spent four years in new French oak. The La Mouline is always the most approachable of the single vineyard releases and is also the earliest maturing. Nevertheless, top vintages can easily keep for 30 years.

The 2015 Cote Rotie La Mouline contains the most Viognier of any of Guigal's La Las: 11%. That tends to make it more open and approachable when young, but the 2015 seemed closed at the time of my visit. Cedar and vanilla frame mixed berries in a full-bodied, plush wine that somehow never seems heavy. It shows great elegance and length, and I'm confident the complexity it showed at earlier tastings will reemerge with a few years in the bottle. JC

This is packed with notes of red and black currant preserves, raspberry pâte de fruit and plum reduction at the core. A long way from opening, as the fruit is encased in layers of singed alder, warm earth and smoldering tobacco. A singed iron spine girds the finish. Should offer a gorgeous display of fruit when this develops fully. JM

Deep, bright-rimmed purple. An exotically perfumed, expressive bouquet evokes dark fruit liqueur, spicecake, smoky bacon, incense, vanilla and incense. A sexy floral nuance emerges with air and carries onto the palate, which displays intense blueberry, cherry liqueur, candied licorice and floral pastille flavors that deepen and spread out steadily on the back half. The floral, bacon and mineral notes come back strong on a strikingly long, youthfully tannic finish, that leaves a juicy blue fruit note behind. Josh Raynolds