Chapoutier Chateauneuf du Pape ''La Bernardine'' 2016

(91-93) pts Wine Advocate

Still in concrete, the 2016 Chateauneuf du Pape la Bernardine is the most flattering young version of this cuvée I can recall tasting. Loaded with black cherry fruit, it's full-bodied, rich and velvety yet not overdone, showing subtle dried spice notes and a long, fresh finish. It should drink well for a decade.

92 pts Wine Spectator

Rich but gentle-edged, with an open-knit core of warmed raspberry coulis, cherry preserve and blood orange flavors, laced with sandalwood, shiso leaf and lavender notes. Features a lightly dusty finish. Grenache and Syrah. Drink now through 2030. 2,000 cases imported.

92 pts Vinous

Limpid ruby-red. Lively red berry, floral pastille and Asian spice aromas are complemented by suggestions of musky garrigue and smoky minerals. Appealingly sweet, focused and seamless in the mouth, offering sappy raspberry, cherry, spicecake and candied lavender flavors that slowly deepen on the back half. Clings with very good authority on the subtly tannic finish, which leaves floral and spice notes behind.