A selection of older vines from the lieux-dits of la Bertaude, Cabrières and Chapoutin, the 2019 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Vieilles Vignes is 90% Grenache, with the balance a blend of Syrah and Mourvèdre. Entirely barrel aged, with 30% new oak, it offers up sweet cedar and vanilla shadings set against black cherries on the nose. In the mouth, it's full-bodied, concentrated and richly textured, finishing tannic, velvety and intense but with notes of wood spice overshadowing the fruit and a touch of warmth.

The 2017 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Vieilles Vignes is 90% Grenache, filled out by equal parts Mourvèdre and Syrah. It's a super ripe effort, impressively full-bodied, rich and a bit fudge-like, with notes of violets and cocoa, wood shadings and a faintly peppery edge. If you prefer your wines big and chocolaty, you'll like this more than I did.

All wood aged, with 30% of the barrels being new, the 2016 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Vieilles Vignes is the biggest and plushest of the offerings from Roger Perrin, but it still exhibits some drying tannins on the finish. Cedar and vanilla notes frame raspberry and plum fruit in this ripe, warm blend of 70% Grenache, 20% Syrah and 10% Mourvèdre.

Easily my favorite in the lineup, with medium to full-bodied richness, ripe tannin and beautiful concentration, the 2015 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Vieilles Vignes has a textbook bouquet of red and black fruits, garrigue and peppery spice. It should easily be an outstanding wine and keep for a decade or more.

Clearly the crème of the lineup is the 2013 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Vieilles Vignes, which checks in as an outstanding blend of 75% Grenache, 17% Syrah and 8% Mourvèdre that spent upwards of 17 months in barrels. It has a touch of barrique in its black raspberry, toasted spice, graphite and licorice-laced bouquet, but it always stays in the background and the wine has fabulous purity of fruit. Medium-bodied, balanced, moderately concentrated, yet with fine tannin, it won’t make old bones, but should evolve for 5-7 years on its balance.