The blend of the 2015 Chateauneuf du Pape Collection Charles Giraud is 60% Grenache and a hefty 40% Mourvèdre. Yes, it's chocolaty ripe, but it also boasts enlivening hints of thyme and rosemary along with brighter notes of cherries. The tannins are powerful yet supple, giving this big wine a sense of velvety elegance on the lengthy finish. Wow.

Lurid ruby-red. A complex, explosively perfumed bouquet of ripe red and blue fruit, Moroccan spice and floral oil aromas is enlivened by a vibrant mineral quality that builds as the wine opens up. Sweet, seamless and expansive on the palate, offering densely packed raspberry, boysenberry and spicecake flavors that show outstanding clarity and back-end power. The mineral and floral components drive the extremely long, sappy finish, which is given shape by smooth tannins. This wine's balance of power and finesse is mighty impressive.