Château de Beaucastel : Hommage à Jacques Perrin 2013

Six years after vintage, this is just starting to take on some secondary development: a little earthiness to the berry fruits. Full-bodied, quite a muscular, butch year for Hommage. Distinctly tannic and the acidity is marked – this will take time to soften; you could decant and drink with a steak now, but wait if you can until around 2023; there is better to come. Impressive length, but the tannins are really quite grainy.

Dark purple. Ripe cherry, dark berry liqueur and candied licorice on the deeply perfumed nose, lifted by a smoky mineral quality. Broad, sweet and seamless on the palate, offering deeply concentrated black and blue fruit, floral pastille and spicecake flavors and a subtle touch of dark chocolate. Shows superb energy and focus on the finish, which is given shape by slow-building tannins and sharpened by a jolt of juicy acidity. The interplay of power and finesse is quite impressive.

Showing an earthy, wet forest, truffle and black cherry nose, the wine is rich, fresh, pure and spicy. There is volume, concentration, complexity and energy. Give it time and this should be even better. The wine was made from a blend of 70% Mourvèdre, 10% Syrah, 10% Grenache and 10% Counoise.