The super 2020 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Vieilles Vignes (90% Grenache, 10% Mourvèdre) is a full-bodied, richly concentrated wine loaded with dark fruit. Velvety tannins frame notes of blackberries, dark chocolate and black olives, while the finish echoes with notes of salted licorice.

The yin to the yang of the estate's Mourre des Perdrix bottling, the 2019 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Vieilles Vignes is almost all Grenache (10% Mourvèdre) from stony, galets roulés sites in Coudoulet, la Crau (sud) and Cristia. It's all black cherries and mocha on the nose, then full-bodied and rich but rather coarse and open-knit on the palate. It's long on the finish and shows remarkable intensity, but it doesn't have the same degree of elegance as the other offerings from Charbonniere; perhaps that will emerge with further cellaring. A second sample (tasted nonblind) revealed more of that elegance, with an almost airy, ethereal feel on the palate that belied the wine's enormous concentration and power.

A blend of 90% Grenache and 10% Mourvèdre from the lieux-dits of La Crau (sud) and Cristia, the 2017 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Vieilles Vignes is huge in the mouth, full-bodied and expansive, with a rich, velvety texture and tremendous length. Notes of raspberries, black cherries, dark chocolate, cola and licorice are compacted into this dense ball of richness, which somehow avoids feeling heavy or warm, framed by a webbing of fine-grained tannins and surprising acidity. I don't know if it will age well past about a decade or so, but it's pretty darn delicious now.

Turning to the darker side of the fruit spectrum, the 2016 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Vieilles Vignes veers toward black cherries, cola and spice. It's full-bodied, rich and velvety, but it takes a different tack than the more open and charming Les Hautes Brusquières bottling. It should drink well for close to two decades. They're the twins you might've fantasized about, one bright and bubbly, the other brooding and mysterious. And you can have both.

According to Véronique Maret, 2011 was a fruit-forward, early-drinking vintage. "The last year, I worked with my father on the winemaking. We had some rain at the end of September." Despite that, Charbonniere's 2011 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee Vieilles Vignes shows no signs of fading. Luscious strawberry and herb aromas mark the nose, while the palate is full-bodied and silky and the long finish echoes with notes of salted licorice. Not tasted blind.