Clos des Papes CNDP 2019 (75 CL)

It is the sublime sense of symmetry and richness on the palate, along with the sensuous texture that hit all the right notes. There is a gorgeous purity to the sweet kirsch, length, and silky tannins that make this vintage stand out. This wine should age and evolve for 2-3 decades with ease. The yields were only 22 hectoliters per hectare. The wine is a blend of 45% Grenache, 40% Mourvedre, 10% Syrah, and the remaining 5% consists of various, allowable grape varieties. The grapes are as always 100% destemmed. Drink from 2025 - 2040." - 98/100, Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider

Wine Advocate

Hints of leather and crushed stone appear on the nose, adding a pleasant nuance to the somewhat monolithic black-cherry fruit. It shows less nuance and complexity than the 2020 at this stage but shows plenty of promise, as its concentration is matched by freshness and a long, reasonably elegant, finish. This will likely need some time to come around. Like many of the producers I visited in late 2021, Paul-Vincent Avril seemed happy to receive a visitor after so many months of virtual isolation. "We've had a good summer—not too hot," he said. The estates parcels were, however, badly affected by frost in the spring. His team began picking on September 20, paused over the following weekend for rain, and he expected them to finish on October 2. "The phenolic maturity is there, the sugars are there," Avril said. "No, it won't be like 2019, but I think we will come in around 14.5–15 degrees [of alcohol]. I think, I don't like to say before the vintage is finished." (JC 5/2022)