Never the biggest or richest wine in a vintage, the 2023 Châteauneuf Du Pape is medium ruby-hued with an incredibly complex, Provençal perfume of spiced black cherries, leather, rose, and pepper. It's medium-bodied and shows a pretty, pure, elegant mouthfeel with ultra-fine tannins and outstanding length. The blend is 50% Grenache, 15% Syrah, and the balance Mourvèdre and other permitted varieties, which were vinified with some stems and aged in foudre. It's already drinking beautifully but has another 15+ years of prime drinking ahead of it. It’s a beautiful, complex, nuanced, elegant 2023 with tons to love. Drink 2025-2040. The Vidal family has a long history in Châteauneuf-du-Pape going back to the 16th century. After World War II, the family was forced to sell their vineyards, yet in 1989, Jean-Claude Vidal, an architect from Toulouse, bought back his family's original parcels and created the estate, learning winemaking from Henri Bonneau and making his first two vintages at Bonneau's cellar. Today, his daughter Audrey runs this tiny five-hectare property, one of the smallest in the appellation, with nine parcels spread across different terroirs, including Grenache parcels on the Grand Pierre lieu-dit very close to Rayas. The red is based on 50% Grenache, 15% Syrah, and the balance Mourvèdre and other permitted varieties, vinified with some stems and aged in foudre. While these wines can be hard to come by in the US, they have a huge following in France. The wines are incredibly perfumed, elegant, and ethereal in style, and I've seen her red compared to Rayas more than once.

The 2023 Châteauneuf-du-Pape from Domaine du Banneret is superb, wafting from the glass with a perfumed bouquet of peonies, wildflowers, dark cherries, red berries and garrigue. Medium- to full-bodied, suave and seamless, it’s layered and textural, with a delicate, juicy core of fruit framed by velvety tannins and concluding with an expansive, lingering finish. This is arguably one of the finest wines ever produced at this address—and without contest, one of the wines of the vintage. It’s a blend of 50% Grenache Noir, 15% Syrah, 10% Mourvèdre and the remainder made up of small percentages of the other permitted varieties.