The 2020 Châteauneuf Du Pape Prestige is a solid step up and brings another level of purity and precision. Based on 70% Grenache, 20% Syrah, and the rest a mix of permitted varieties, it has stunning aromatics of red and black fruits, roasted garrigue, spring flowers, and a hint of graphite. With full-bodied richness, moderate acidity, ripe, velvety tannins, and one heck of a great finish, it’s one of the gems in the vintage. I’ve been praising the wines of Domaine Roger Sabon for years now, and they consistently turn out incredible wines, year-in, year-out. Looking at the 2020s, these wines shine for their purity and impeccable balance and bring more fruit and texture than most in the vintage.

Dark and brooding, this reveals layers of black fruit edged in iron and smoke. Tightly coiled on the palate, with highlights of violet, tea, forest floor and cumin emerging with time. Slightly grippy tannins hold firm, and this will benefit from a few years in the cellar for the full range of flavors to open up. Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Counoise and Vaccarèse. Best from 2024 through 2038. (JM)

Plentiful brooding dark fruits, this is bold, rounded and powerful. Riper and deeper than many this year, with massy ripe tannins. The alcohol does seem a little high, but the acidity is balanced and it finishes long and intense. Grown on mixed soils, mostly galets roulés and sand, in the lieux-dits of Les Brusquières and Cabrières. Fermented half in stainless steel, half in concrete tanks, then aged in large barrels of different shapes and sizes. (MW)