Beautifully complex and aromatic, the 2009 Châteauneuf Du Pape from Vieux Télégraphe offers up classic spicy red fruits, tapenade, menthol, and peppery garrigue that changes every time you come back to the glass. These all carry to a medium to full-bodied Châteauneuf with a wonderful sense of purity, ripe, polished tannins, no sensation of weight or heaviness, and a beautiful finish. All from the La Crau lieu-dit in the southeast region of the appellation and raised in foudre, it has another 10-15 years of prime drinking and is a quintessential expression of this fabulous terroir and estate. Drink: 2025-2039.

Precise nose, beautiful and focused with pure dark fruit scents and notes of roasted spices. Opulent texture, really expressive and harmonious, showing a lot of pleasure and a mineral character.

(65% grenache, 15% each of mourvedre and syrah, and the rest all the other varieties; aged in a combination of foudres and concrete): Bright ruby. Intense red fruit and potpourri aromas show excellent precision and a suave, spicy character. Licorice and lavender nuances add complexity to juicy raspberry and bitter cherry flavors, with the wine putting on weight in the glass. Finishes taut and youthfully tangy, with echoing licorice and spice notes.