About this product

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"Still in foudre, the 2016 Châteauneuf du Pape Habemus Papam looks to have softened considerably since I tasted it last year. Floral-herbal notes accent ripe cherries, while the palate boasts a wonderfully rich, creamy texture. Full-bodied, with supple tannins, this tour de force is long, silky and elegant. Young Benjamin Gras appears firmly in control of the winemaking at this benchmark estate put on the map by his father, Yves. The estate has been certified biodynamic by Demeter beginning in 2017, so when those wines are eventually released, they'll be the first vintage thus labeled. Those wines went into foudres for aging just a week before I arrived to taste the wines in mid-June. Most of the bunches are still destemmed (60% to 70%), and the wines undergo a cold maceration of about a week prior to ferments that max out around 25 degrees Celsius. Maceration times and extraction have been steadily reined in by Benjamin, who emphasizes elegance over power. Considering the 2015 and 201