2012 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Tradition

Nicolas Boiron's wines have become more fruit-driven and polished in recent vintages. They no longer show the somewhat rustic edge of the wines made at this estate in the 1990s but they still retain classic southern Rhône character. The influence of Philippe Cambie's consulting on this estate cannot be underestimated or underappreciated as the wines are now, for me, often in the top rank of Châteauneufs on a regular basis. In the past stern, drying tannins frequently blocked fruit expression and required extended cellaring to loosen up. Indeed, a recent bottle of the 1998 Cuvée Tradition was still pretty unyielding (not necessarily a bad thing given how many '98s have gone loose, stewy and hot by now), while more recent vintages are leading with their fruit, but not at the expense of structure.

Nicolas Boiron says that he finds most of the 2011s to have "a little sweetness and easy tannins, which makes them easy to drink now."His shorthand take on the most recent vintages is to go ahead and drink the '11s now and over the next few years."But absolutely wait on your '10s and also the '12s, which are acting more and more like the '10s as they age."While he believes that his own 2010s are the best wines he has ever made, he cautions that "they're really shut down and all structure and bones at this point.Anybody who drinks them now and expects to get pleasure is going to be disappointed."