TN: 2016 Clos des Papes

This is almost a gorgeous wine. The aromatics are quite impressive, ranging from herbes de provence, florals, grilled game meat and kirsch liquor. Coats the palate rather extensively but not initially in a heavy way, it actually has a silky, sensual freshness to it despite the scale. Runs the spectrum of dark fruits but has a vein of acidity that introduces some hints of dark red. That first glass, I really did not detect the 15.5%+ ABV on this wine, but by the second glass, with more airtime, the wine started to develop those over-ripe licorice, raisin, plummy notes. While I understand this wine has a healthy cut of Mourvèdre, the Grenache notes on this wine are most predominant. I fortunately paired this wine with beef bourguignon. I think it would have over-powered anything else. Reminds me of why I stopped buying this wine over a decade ago.

For 2016 CDP, Beaucastel blows this away.