The 2019 Chateauneuf du Pape Peur Bleue is 50% Grenache and 25% each Mourvèdre and Syrah, with zero oak involved. It delivers a range of red berries and dried herbs, with touches of purple raspberries and garrigue. It's full-bodied and concentrated but seems a bit greenish and herbal on the silky, tannic finish.

The estate's sans soufre bottling, the 2014 Chateauneuf du Pape Peur Bleue is made from equal parts Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre that’s brought up all in stainless steel. It offers tons of black and blue fruits, herbs, pepper and earth, yet also has a touch of underlying oxidation that gives me pause. Medium to full-bodied, inky colored and structured, it will be interesting to see how this shows from bottle. Either way, without any SO2 additions, it’s best consumed in its youth.

More masculine and exotic, the 2012 Chateauneuf du Pape Peur Bleue (bottled without sulphur) offers searing pepper, tar, flowers, meat and liquid herb-like aromas and flavors. Raw and unformed, this medium to full-bodied effort has serious fruit, no shortage of tannin and solid freshness and purity. It will need time to come together. Drink 2016-2025. Importer: Shaw-Ross, Miramar, FL; tel. (954) 430-5036

A wine that’s harder to read, the 2011 Chateauneuf du Pape Peur Bleue (bottled without sulphur) sports slightly exotic aromas of black and blue fruits, tar, meat and serious floral notes. Medium-bodied and rich, it turns firm and tannic on the finish and needs time to round into form. Give it another 2-3 years and drink it through 2021. Drink 2016-2021. Importer: Shaw-Ross, Miramar, FL; tel. (954) 430-5036

A brilliant offering is the 2010 Chateauneuf du Pape Peur Bleu. Of course, who knows what it will taste like once it has been transported to the United States and other countries, but when tasted within the boundaries of Chateauneuf du Pape it reveals fabulous purity of fruit with lots of blueberry, blackberry, forest floor and spring flower-like aromatics. Rich with silky tannin and a multilayered mouthfeel, this fabulous wine should drink well (at the domaine) for 20-30 years. One of the largest estates in Chateauneuf du Pape, Chateau de la Gardine (which has a history dating back to the late 1600s) owns over 120 acres in Chateauneuf du Pape, where they enjoy a long track record of exceptional success. Remarkably, the Brunel family that owns this estate has been vineyard owners since 1670, acquiring La Gardine in 1945. Little has changed in the thirty years I have been covering Chateauneuf du Pape other than the fact that they have introduced a totally unsulphured cuvee, Peur Bleu, and their blockbuster l’Immortelle. The intention is to use small oak casks and make a more modern-styled wine with aging potential of three decades or more. Despite the use of their own bottle form (that varies considerably from the type of bottle used by most Chateauneuf du Pape producers), they age the l’Immortelle in a truncated oak vat and the unsulphured cuvee in 600-liter demi-muids. The 2010s are of high quality across the board. Except for the Traditional cuvees, they are long-term propositions for serious connoisseurs who have the necessary wine storage facilities to give these wines some time to come into full maturity. Importer: Shaw-Ross, Miramar, FL; tel. (954) 430-5036.