The Mourvèdre-dominated 2015 Châteauneuf du Pape Tintot sports an inky color as well as serious, full-bodied, decadent notes of black and blue fruits, roasted herbs, melted licorice and cured meats. It’s certainly not for those craving lightweight aromas and flavors, has sensational mid-palate depth and masses of sweet tannin, all suggesting it will be very long lived. Range: 93-96 V93

Youthful purple. Ripe dark berry and vanilla aromas are enlivened by white pepper and clove. Oak-spiced blackberry, cherry-vanilla, floral pastille and licorice flavors gain lift from tangy acidity and show very good depth. Sweet and seamless on the youthfully tannic finish, which emphatically repeats the vanilla note. The lumber here is making a very strong statement at this point, but based on this bottling's track record, I'm confident that it will resolve itself in due time