Rich, dense and intense, the ripe, spicy red berries, olives and garrigue get your attention quickly. Long, fresh, clean, refined and concentrated, the wine gets going quickly and stays with you. Purity, elegance, length and complexity are what you'll find here. Give it a few years for the tannins to soften and allow things to come together and this should be an even better wine. The wine was made blending 64% Grenache and 28% Syrah with 8% Mourvedre. Read more at:https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/search-wine-tasting-notes/?szSearch=Vaudieu

Fragrances of vanilla, smoke and violet amplify bold blackberry and plum in this bombastic red wine. A blend of 64% Grenache, 28% Syrah and 8% Mourvèdre, it's a rich, densely textured wine with a lingering finish marked by Bourbon and coffee notes. Appealing already for its flash, it should gain elegance from 2021 and improve through 2040. - ANNA LEE C. IIJIMA

95+ A great vintage for this cuvée (and the region as a whole), the 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Val de Dieu is 64% Grenache, 28% Syrah, and the balance Mourvèdre, all brought up in demi-muids. Fabulous notes of garrigue, new saddle leather, graphite, and assorted sweet red (and some black) fruits give way to a full-bodied, ripe, powerful wine that has remarkable elegance and purity. It's already approachable yet will unquestionably benefit from short-term cellaring and shine for a decade or more.

A beauty, with boysenberry, loganberry and blueberry fruit streaming through. Creamy and lush in feel, yet driven and detailed due to seamless acidity and light anise, black tea and lavender notes. Reveals a light graphite hint at the very end. Best from 2020 through 2040. 100 cases imported.

Full-bodied and plush, the 2016 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Val de Dieu is a blend of 64% Grenache, 28% Syrah and 8% Mourvèdre. Brought up exclusively in demi-muids, it does show some toasty accents, but it delivers a lush mouthful of ripe raspberries and vanilla that glides to a lingering, slightly charred finish. - Joe Czerwinski