Checking in as a blend of 65% Grenache, 15% Syrah, 10% Mourvèdre, and the rest a handful of varieties, the 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape was brought up in a mix of foudre and older barrels. This deep ruby/purple-hued effort has a pure, vibrant, incredibly seamless, medium to full-bodied style that carries classic notes of black raspberry and black cherry fruits as well as peppery herbs, violets, spring flowers, and sous bois. This straight-up gorgeous, seamless, ultra-fine 2019 should be snatched up by readers. It has a rare mix of elegance, purity, and power, and it’s going to have two decades of prime drinking.

Ripe and lush as well as vibrant and fresh, thanks to violet and graphite notes that enhance the corpulent cassis, plum and blackberry preserve flavors. Delivers light tar, anise and roasted apple wood notes on the finish. Drink now through 2032. 5,000 cases made, 1,000 cases imported. — JM

Very typical meaty and spicy nose with restrained red and black berries. An elegant, medium-bodied wine (in spite of 15.5% alcohol!) with fine tannins that gently build on the finish. Doesn’t need further aging. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification. Drink or hold.

Shimmering ruby. Expressive, mineral-accented red berry and cherry aromas are complemented by suggestions of garrigue and pungent flowers. Energetic and focused on the palate, offering sappy black raspberry and bitter cherry flavors that become deeper and sweeter as the wine unfolds. Juicy and sharply focused, displaying strong, spicy lift on the long penetrating finish, which features harmonious tannins and repeating florality. -- Josh Raynolds

Beauregard's entry-level 2019 Chateauneuf du Pape is a solid effort, blessed with scents of cherries, stone fruit and delicate shadings of garrigue on the nose. In the mouth, it's full-bodied, lush, almost creamy in texture, then long and supple, with just a touch of bitterness on the finish. A classic blend of roughly 65% Grenache, 15% Syrah, 10% Mourvèdre and the balance a mix of the other permitted varieties, matured in a mix of mostly large-volume vessels, give it a year or two to round into full bloom and then drink it over the following decade. - Joe Czerwinski