Château de Beaucastel : Hommage à Jacques Perrin 2015

A well-endowed wine, dripping with cassis, plum sauce and raspberry puree flavors supported by notes of warmed apple wood, black tea and melted licorice. Dense yet remarkably polished, and almost supple in feel, with a bolt of warm earth scoring the very end of the finish. Best from 2025 through 2050. 170 cases made, 100 cases imported.

Immediately more red-fruited than other recent vintages, it's warm, with lush stewed fruit scents, stewed plums in particular, and raspberry. Full-bodied, but without the mass of tannin of the 2016. It's warmer on the palate in terms of fruit ripeness and alcohol, and the tannins are a little fibrous. Some coffee bean on the finish. It's feeling a bit closed at the time of tasting - I would leave this until at least 2025 before opening.

60% Mourvèdre, 20% Syrah, 20% Grenache. Exquisite raspberry fruit on the nose, then a surprisingly savoury palate with bitter cherry, firm tannin, full body, grainy tannin and fresh acidity. This is potent stuff that manages to be big in every dimension without being overworked. Very canny winemaking, with impeccable fruit purity. (RH)

The dark red berries are well complemented by a back note of blue fruit. Just a hint of oak, because the 2015 was aged in a second-year foudre; from there you find pepper, herbs, earth and a hint of barnyard. On the palate is where this rocket ship really takes off. Thick, rich and opulent, the wine coats your mouth with layer after layer of fruit that shows a beautiful sense of purity. Power and elegance is the name of the game here. This will age for decades. The wine was made from a blend of 70% Mourvedre, 10% Syrah, 10% Grenache and 10% Counoise.

A classic blend mostly of Mourvèdre, the 2015 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage A Jacques Perrin is a blockbuster and certainly the wine of the vintage. Possessing an inky purple color along with an incredible bouquet of blueberry, garrigue, olive tapenade, beef blood and pepper, it's rich, full-bodied, powerful and layered, with sweet, ripe tannins. It's a more approachable example of this cuvée than past vintages, yet will keep for 3 decades or more.