2016 Chateauneuf du Pape

A blend of 75% Grenache, 20% Syrah and 5% Mourvèdre, the sample of the 2016 Chateauneuf du Pape seemed slightly off, with bruised-fruit aromas that distracted from the ripe black cherry fruit and savory black olive notes. It's full-bodied and sturdy, with what could be an interesting future.

Vivid ruby. Bright, mineral-accented raspberry and lavender pastille scents show very good clarity and pick up a pungent garrigue accent with air. Offers sappy, penetrating red fruit, floral pastille and spicecake flavors and a spicy jolt of white pepper. The mineral note comes back on a persistent, subtly sweet, red-berry-dominated finish framed by smooth, fine-grained tannins.

Moving to the reds, the 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape offers terrific finesse and elegant as well as medium full-bodied richness, lots of darker berry fruits, spice, garrigue and toasted bread aromatics, and a forward, charming, front-end loaded style I tasted six whites from Tardieu-Laurent, all of which were noteworthy, and this estate’s relatively modern, yet clean, pure style always produced a terrific white I’d be happy to drink.