2011 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hommage à Jacques Perrin

"It's been a good thing that we're so obsessed with mourvedre because relying on grenache for the last few years has been a real pain for people," Marc Perrin told me when we sat down to taste the new Beaucastel releases in November.He noted that underripe grapes were a serious problem in 2011, so fastidious sorting was mandatory."Now I know how zinfandel growers must feel about having to deal with irregular ripeness within individual clusters," he added.Needless to say, yields were down sharply in '11 (50% less than in 2010 here) but the resulting wines show very good depth and flavor intensity.As for 2012, Perrin calls it "a vintage of balance and fruit intensity, such that the wines can be drunk young, but they will also age because there aren't hard tannins that need time to fade into the background."