Domaine de Cristia Chateauneuf du Pape Vieilles Vignes 2015

This delivers a lush, enticing blast of cassis and raspberry and boysenberry preserve flavors, carried by a silky structure that lets the fruit play out at length, giving adequate time for black tea, singed apple wood, dried anise and fruitcake notes to fill in throughout. Dreamy. Grenache. Best from 2020 through 2040. 600 cases made.

As for the reds from barrel, I found a touch of volatile acidity in all of the barrel samples, as well as a touch less exuberance and concentration than in past vintage. My favorite of the barrel samples was the 2015 Châteauneuf du Pape Vieilles Vignes, which is 100% Grenache that was completely destemmed and aged in a mix of demi-muids, new barrels and older barrels. It offers awesome notes of plums, blackberries, blueberries, garrigue and roasted meats in a sexy, even flamboyant, full-bodied style that will be hard to resist in its youth. Again, there's a touch of volatile acidity here, but it handles it well.