The 2020 Châteauneuf Du Pape showed brilliantly and is certainly one of the stars in the vintage. Based on 55% Grenache, 30% Mourvedre, and the rest Syrah and other permitted varieties, it shines for its elegance and purity, offering a wonderful core of red and black fruits, medium to full body, silky, incredibly polished tannins, flawless balance, and already complex notes of flowers, sappy garrigue, Provençal spice. It has the estate's incredible ability to bring wonderful intensity and richness while staying graceful and seamless. It reminds me slightly of the 2012, possibly the 2006, and while it already offers pleasure, it will evolve for 20+ years in cold cellars.
96 points jebdunnuck.com
Flowers are the first thing you notice before discovering all the spice, cloves, kirsch, and dark cherries on the nose. On the palate, the wine is silky, elegant, fresh, supple, and refined. The kirsch shows a beautiful purity and spicy character, along with its refined tannins and peppery strawberries that kick in at the end of the finish. The wine is a blend of 55% Grenache, 30% Mourvedre, and 10% Syrah with the remaining 5% consisting of various, allowable grape varieties. The grapes are as always 100% destemmed. The production is quite low this year at only 25 hectoliters per hectare. The wine is 15.2% ABV, but you do not sense any heat. Drink from 2024-2038.