2018 Domaine de la Vieille Julienne Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve

A great success in any vintage, but a marvel in a difficult year, this superb wine offers a deep, dark, red hue. The perfume, with its blend of flowers, licorice, garrigue, spices, cherries and plums is gorgeous. Richly textured, concentrated, long and with depth and complexity, the lusciously textured finish lingers on your palate. Give it 3-5 years of aging and it will be even better! 98 Points

The 2018 Châteauneuf Du Pape Reserve comes from a single terroir (which is closest to the Les Trois Sources terroir) and is always a tiny production cuvée that’s just about impossible to find in the market. The 2018 shows the more elegant, seamless style of the vintage beautifully and has a gorgeous bouquet of cassis, blueberries, crushed violets, smoked game, ground pepper, and black licorice. This carries to a seamless, full-bodied wine that has no hard edges, flawless balance, and silky tannins, as well as a great finish. This is just about as good as 2018 gets and is a singular, gorgeous wine that’s going to evolve gracefully for 15+ years or more. While 2018 seemed to favor those with more clay soil, you’d never know that from tasting the wines from Jean-Paul Daumen, and his 2018s are unquestionably some of the finest in the vintage. The shocker was how well the Les Hauts-Lieux performed, and it’s a heavenly bottle of wine that’s every bit as good as the Reserve, although it shows a more mineral-laced, masculine style. As I’ve written in the past, there are few wines I’d rather drink than those of Vieille Julienne.

Tank sample. Jammy fruit, but not in a pejorative sense: this has beautiful clarity and density, with a very firm although supple structure. Not quite as persistent as previous vintages, perhaps, but that fruit is impeccable, pristine, crystalline. Lovely peppery note on the finish. (RH)