I was blown away by the prodigious fruit in the 2017 Chateauneuf du Pape Chante le Merle Vieilles Vignes. Quantities are only maybe half of the 2016, so you can imagine how concentrated and rich this baby is. Waves of raspberry and cherry fruit are seductive on the nose, then crash over the palate with a tsunami of concentration and power. If time in the cellar can coax some additional elegance out of the wine, it could be a candidate for perfection. At Bosquet des Papes, I tasted with the larger-than-life, fifth-generation owner, Nicolas Boiron. Standing out for his size and outgoing personality, he's a true character, not afraid to speak his mind. The Boiron family farms 27 hectares in Châteauneuf-du-Pape and five hectares in Côtes du Rhône, sold under the Domaine Nicolas Boiron label. Philippe Cambie has been a consultant since 2005. Boiron said 2017 is a very good year but with lower quantity. "There's more structure than in 2016," he said. The wines here seem to be going from strength to strength, with quality inching up nearly every vintage and prices still reasonable given the fairly large volumes involved. This is a property to buy from before pricing jumps.(JC)