The 2019 Crozes-Hermitage Domaine De Thalabert showed well, with a floral, pepper, and sappy herb style as well as plenty of darker cherry and currant fruit. With medium to full body, a vibrant, elegant texture, present tannins, and good acidity, this is a classic, balanced Thalabert to hide for 2-4 years and enjoy over the following decade or more. Drink 2022‑2034. Rated (92-94). - Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com November, 2020

The 2017 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Vieilles Vignes derives from parcels planted on classic clay and galets roulés soils. It's 65% Grenache, 20% Mourvèdre, 10% Syrah and 5% other varieties. Tight, intense, even clenched, it's in need of several years' cellaring before it becomes truly enjoyable to drink. For now, those gorgeous black cherries are restrained behind a firm wall of tannins. Full-bodied and rich, this is ripe, it just requires patience. Drink 2022‑2035. Rated 97. - Joe Czerwinski, The Wine Advocate Issue 244, August, 2019

I was able to taste the 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape Cuvée Chaupin on two occasions, rating it one point higher on one of those as well. Incredible notes of red and black fruits, violets, scorched earth, ground pepper, and Provençal garrigue notes define the nose, and it’s a darker, richer, slightly more powerful wine than usual, while still showing the inherent elegance and finesse this cuvée always shows. Give bottles 2-3 years and enjoy over the following 15-20. Don’t miss it! Drink 2023‑2044. Rated 98+. - Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com November, 2021

Produce of 55% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 10% Carignan, 5% Cinsault and 5% Mourvèdre grown on 20 acres adjacent to the Châteauneuf-du-Pape vineyards of Domaine de La Janasse. This superb Côtes-du-Rhône has been a go-to bottle for us for some years now: deep, deep ruby red, with hints of garrigue and stone almost wholly subsumed by sun-drenched, ripe grapey aromas; rich, round and powerful with ripe kirsch-like Grenache flavors and chalky stony tannins building on the palate and giving shape and structure on to the warm and invigorating finish.

The 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape Les Hauts-Lieux includes slightly more Mourvèdre and comes from a cooler parcel in the northern part of the appellation. It has another level of purity and precision compared to the Trois Sources and has extraordinary notes of blueberries, cassis, black licorice, violets, and crushed stone-like minerality. Incredibly concentrated, massive, and yet perfectly balanced, it has no hard edges and is just an incredible tasting experience. Hide bottles for 4-5 years and enjoy over the following 20-25 years. Drink 2025‑2051. Rated 98+. - Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com November, 2021

More cassis, morello cherry, Asian spice, and a beautiful sense of minerality and loamy earth emerge from the 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape Les Trois Sources, a full-bodied, concentrated blend of 60% Grenache, 15% each of Cinsault and Syrah, and the balance Mourvèdre. Coming all from the estate’s sandy soils in the northern part of the appellation, this incredibly concentrated, textured wine has perfect balance, building tannins, and a great finish. Give this beauty another 4-5 years in the cellar and drink it over the following two decades or more. Drink 2025‑2047. Rated 96+. - Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com November, 2021

True to form, the 2018 Châteauneuf Du Pape Les Trois Sources is a softer, more elegant wine than the Les Hauts-Lieux and offers a gorgeous perfume of black cherries, black licorice, tapenade, violets, herbes de Provence, and jus de viande. Deep, full-bodied, and beautifully layered, it gains weight with time in the glass and is going to benefit from just short-term cellaring. It doesn’t have the concentration for any long-term cellaring yet my money is on it evolving nicely for a solid 10-12 years. Drink 2020‑2032. Rated 95. - Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com October, 2020

Leading off the three Châteauneuf Du Papes, the 2017 Châteauneuf Du Pape Les Trois Sources comes from more sandy soils just across the road from the estate. It always shares more stylistic similarities with the Réserve and is more opulent, sexy, and fruit loaded compared to the Hauts-Lieux cuvée. This 2017 is spectacular, offering loads of black fruits, black licorice, ground herbs, violets, and some obvious loamy soil and mineral-like aromas and flavors. Full-bodied, expansive, and multi-dimensional, this is another singular wine from Jean-Paul Daumen that tastes like the essence of this stunning terroir. Drink 2021‑2041. Rated 97. - Jeb Dunnuck, jebdunnuck.com August, 2019

Produce of a blend of 60% Syrah and 40% Grenache fruit from vines planted to the granitic soils of a southerly-exposed vineyard near the Ardèche; deep ruby in color, dark fruited on the nose, too, with aromas suggestive of dark berry fruits (Delas themselves note violet and réglisse); ample, medium-full and yet still fresh and easy-going on the tongue with a gentle burst of spicy berry southern Rhône Valley flavor; easy-going on the wallet, too, at its oh so nominal price.

From the folks at Domaine Chante Cigale, who bring us right good value in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Cicada Blanc is an inspired mingling of Viognier, Picpoul and Sauvignon Blanc from vineyards in the south of France and fresh as can be. The Viognier gives both aroma and body, the Picpoul citrus and nerve, the Sauvignon Blanc a delicious ripe melon-like aroma and flavor; together they yield a wine with an alluring freshness, a quaffability that is ever so refreshing and all at a price that is oh so easy to swallow. The Cicada with the guitar is cute, too.

Equally delicious in red as well. From the fruit of 80% Grenache and 20% Carignane vines averaging 30 years in age and planted to clay and limestone soils in the southern Rhône Valley of France. Vivid medium ruby in color with aromas that conjure baies mélangées with only just a whisper of garrigue; crisp and vibrant with gentle fresh acidity pushing those bouncy berry flavors forward on the palate and leaving everything all the more refreshed for it. Put a little chill on this one and take the edge off the end of the day.

Deep, glistening ruby. Spice-accented dark berry and cherry on the nose, along with suggestions of garrigue, baking spices and licorice. Juicy black raspberry, bitter cherry and floral pastille flavors show tight focus and become deeper and sweeter with air. The spicy note resonates on a clinging, energetic finish shaped by smooth, well-knit tannins. Rated 92. - Josh Raynolds, vinous.com October, 2021

Produce of 80% Grenache, 10% Mourvèdre and 10% Syrah planted to the slopes of the small valley of Trignon, with cool and breezy nights favorable to a slow even ripening of the fruit. The poor limestone gravel subsoil here also has the advantage of good drainage. Through a glass darkly, almost translucent medium deep ruby in color in our straight-sided tasting glass, full ripe fleshy fruit aromas suggesting myriad red and black berry fruits, black cherry, plum, lavender, pulverized limestone and even more with time in the glass; while this is no beast of a wine (it is smooth and slippery on entry) it surely is not a wine for the faint of heart, weighing in at 15% alcohol by volume, potent and full with ripe flavors on a backdrop of solid rock, with jittery fine-grained tannins underpinning and supporting their presence long and warm on the finish. We would recommend this with the air-conditioning turned down low, with slow-cooked meats, bean soups, soft ripened cheeses and the like.

Produced at Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, this is, as they say, a 'gateway' to the more 'elevated' wines of the southern Rhône Valley. Only, in this case, the Ventoux appellation is actually higher in elevation, and more altitude in this part of the winegrowing world tends to give more freshness and more an easygoingness and, you'll notice, a little lighter touch in terms of price. Produce of about 55% Grenache, 15% Syrah, 15% Carignan, 8% Cinsault and 7% Mourvèdre all hand-harvested from two vineyard sites, 3 hectares of Côtes‑du‑Rhône on the left bank of the Rhône river 15 km north of Avignon, and 7 hectares in the commune of Caromb, at the foot of Mont Ventoux in the Ventoux appellation itself. The wine is fermented in temperature-controlled cement tanks, then aged in a combination of the same and foudres (large oak barrels). Lovely rich ruby in color with aromas highly suggestive of ripe red and dark berry fruits (Andrea, Glenn and Henry all noted 'blue' fruits), along with kirsch and more subtle, subsumed hints of the garrigue; ample on entry, just plump, perhaps more velvet than silk in this ripe vintage year, rich in texture with nicely rounded tannins giving the wine shape and form on the flavorful, if warm and engagingly long finish. Andrea succinctly noted the 'seamless' quality of the wine from nose to palate to finish on a kind of delicious continuum. Serve from a nice bowl-shaped Burgundy glass for best result.

Produce of 75% Grenache, 20% Syrah and 5% Mourvèdre grapes hand-harvested from vines averaging 60 years in age from vineyards near Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the southern Rhône Valley. Each cluster is carefully sorted and the grapes are entirely destemmed then chilled to 12°C to undergo cold soaking, extracting as much fruit flavour and colour as possible. They are then put into stainless steel vats and undergo pigéage and a slow, temperature-controlled fermentation for some 15 to 20 days, yielding more robust, round, persistent tannins and body. The wine is then aged in concrete vats for 12 to 15 months before bottling. Lovely translucent cherry skin red with aromas of pulverized stone, wild strawberry, cherry, rosemary, lavender and more; supple on entry, then expansive on the palate to a generous mouth-filling medium-full in body with fine dusty jittery ripe tannins keeping everything fresh and flavorful on the long finish.

This small château is located near the town of Saint-Gilles just west of the Rhône River some 5 miles from the Mediterranean Sea. The rocky soils here are reminiscent of Châteauneuf-du-Pape and the fruit is always picked late, ensuring deep and profound wines with soft tannins. The vineyards are farmed sustainably, without the use of synthetic herbicides, pesticides or fertilizers on the vineyards or crops. The fruit is vinified separately in stainless steel tanks by varietal and by vineyard site. This 2018 Château Guiot Costières de Nîmes is a blend of hand-harvested Grenache and Syrah fruit; very primary aromas of fleshy ripe grapes and grape pomace with suggestion of blue plum, kirsch and a good healthy winegrowing earth; just full and fruity and round on the tongue with nice crisp bright acids and supple tannins lending the gentlest astringency and keeping things refreshing and vibrant to the long and flavorful finish. Some kind of value, too!