A much more powerful wine based on 60% Grenache and 40% Mourvedre, the 2020 Châteauneuf Du Pape Deus-Ex Machina reminds me slightly of the 2011 with its spicy, perfumed, complex bouquet of red and black fruits, dried flowers, pepper, and Provençal herbs, with more gamey, meaty notes emerging with time in the glass. Full-bodied on the palate, it's balanced, has ultra-fine yet building tannins, no hard edges, and a great finish. It needs a solid 4-5 years of bottle age and should have 20+ of overall longevity.

Boasts bitter plum, raspberry and black cherry reduction notes that have a lively savory, garrigue streak, while grippy-edged tar, tobacco and ganache notes pepper the finish. Muscular and dense but the cut is there, and the fruit core takes a late encore for good measure. Grenache and Mourvèdre. Best from 2025 through 2040. 500 cases made, 56 cases imported.

(96+ points) A blend of 60% Grenache (matured in concrete) and 40% Mourvèdre (matured in new oak), the 2020 Chateauneuf du Pape Deus Ex Machina features toasty, vanilla-stained aromas of black cherries, plums and licorice. Full-bodied, richly concentrated and tannic yet lively and long, this intense, long-lived beauty finishes long, with lingering subtle echoes of dark chocolate. - Joe Czerwinski

The 2020 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Deus Ex Machina shows pronounced aromas of raspberry and cherry liqueur, strawberry compote, cured meat, dried lavender, cardamon, mint and a ferrous twist of crushed rocks. Full-bodied, broad-shouldered and layered, it is framed by ever-so-velvety tannins and high levels of bright acidity. The complex finish goes on for well over a minute. -- Nicolas Greinacher