Made from 100% Grenache in the La Guigasse lieu-dit, the 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape La Guigasse boasts a deeper ruby/purple color as well as a sensational bouquet of kirsch and black raspberries, spring flowers, rose petals, and exotic spice. This beauty builds on the palate, with terrific concentration, yet it always holds onto the more ethereal, elegant, seamless style of this estate.

Whiffs of violet, bramble and smoke perfume this ripe yet soft-footed wine. Made from 100% Grenache sourced from the sandy La Guigasse lieu dit, it's intense with blackberries but maintains breathtaking freshness throughout. Tannins are fine grained and densely packed now. It should drink at peak from 2020 through 2030.

Limpid magenta. Intense, mineral-tinged aromas of ripe red fruits, candied lavender, baking spices and incense show sharp delineation and energetic lift. Palate-staining red and blue fruit preserve flavors are complemented by floral pastille and spicecake qualities that firm up slowly on the back half. Distinctly rich but fresh and structured as well, showing superb finishing clarity, well-knit tannins and lingering floral and mineral notes. -- Josh Raynolds