Tasting like a rich, ripe red from Provence, the 2013 Doyenne Aix (60/40 Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon) offers up a fabulous bouquet of ripe black currants, melted licorice, roasted herbs and pepper in a full-bodied, concentrated, even unctuous, style on the palate. Despite all of the fruit and texture, this beauty has solid underlying structure and will drink well for another 10-15 years.

Once you move east out of the Southern Rhone Valley and into Provence, you hit the town of Aix-en-Provence, and you have a few producers who utilize Cabernet Sauvignon, Domaine Trevallon being the most notable. Delille's Doyenne Aix is made in this image and is always a blend of Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2012 Doyenne Aix (60/40 Syrah and Cabernet) is a one of the finest vintages of the cuvee to date and it offers full-bodied, rich, decadent notes of blackcurrants, black raspberries, smoke tobacco, chocolate and roasted-garrigue characteristics. Concentrated, ripe and with solid mid-palate depth, it's also fresh, lively and beautifully balanced. It will be better with short-term cellaring, yet have 15 years of overall longevity.

A Provencal styled blend of 71% Syrah and 29% Cabernet Sauvignon that comes all from Red Mountain, the 2011 Doyenne Aix has beautiful richness and texture in the vintage, with ample black raspberry, blackberry, licorice, toast and hints of meatiness all flowing to a clean, beautifully balanced and overall elegant wine that will have 10 - 12 years of overall longevity. Seemingly outstanding in every vintage, it represents a superb value and is well worth checking out. Tel. (425) 489-0544; www.delillecellars.com

The 2009 Doyenne Aix – 58% Syrah; 38% Cabernet Sauvignon; and 4% Mourvedre, originating in the Ciel du Cheval, Grand Ciel, and Boushey vineyards – represents the seventh in a series inaugurated as the cuvee that winemaker Chris Upchurch blended to serve at his own wedding reception. Ripe blackberry and cassis mingle with beet root, dark chocolate, and peat for a pungent, bittersweet, and satisfyingly earthy, faintly grainy palate display. A tart berry skin tang and bite of black pepper add to the stimulation of a sweetly-ripe finish that I would love to see be a bit juicier and more sustained. A year in bottle might well witness a yet more harmonious and expressive performance, and I would by no means rule out following this for several additional years. Winemaker-vineyard manager and self-styled “old world traditionalist” Chris Upchurch has been the guiding spirit of DeLille Cellars since its early-’90s inception, although the ostensibly Old World models followed have evolved significantly in both marketing and winemaking terms. Early-on, DeLille, unsurprisingly, – like so many other U.S. wineries – focused exclusively on a Bordelais vision. That said, Upchurch and his partners had been in business for nearly a decade before they purchased a vineyard: Grand Ciel, adjacent to Ciel du Cheval and Galitzine and managed by the accomplished and (seemingly in Red Mountain at least) ubiquitous Ryan Johnson. DeLille also vinifies and bottles separately the fruit of Harrison Hill’s antique vines (for more about which see my tasting note on the 2009 vintage) and a second estate vineyard project is afoot. The established if misleading name Chaleur Estate was retained for DeLille’s flagship wine crafted from contract fruit (second wine: D2); while the designation Doyenne – utilized from early-on for Syrah – morphed into an officially separate winery for experimental-minded exploration of themes inspired by Southern France. (For database purposes, we at The Wine Advocate / eRobertParker.com treat Doyenne as part of the relevant wines’ descriptions and a DeLille sub-label, which reflects the way those wines are marketed and the spirit in which they were presented to me. Comments on Upchurch’s vinificatory approaches can be found sprinkled though my tasting notes.)

The 2008 Aix is a blend of 61% Syrah, 34% Cabernet Sauvignon, with the balance Mourvedre and Cinsault sourced almost entirely from the Red Mountain AVA. Expressive aromas of smoke, game, bacon, pepper, garrigue, blueberry, and blackberry lead to a round, succulent, impeccably balanced, lengthy wine. In the scheme of things it is a terrific value. Doyenne is DeLille’s sister label used for Rhone-style wines. This year’s releases include two white wines. www.delillecellars.com