This is a much more serious and ambitious wine than one usually finds under the Côtes du Rhône umbrella. The nose has great intrigue, with cracked black pepper and plum notes couched in a bed of toasty new oak. It's full-bodied and intense, with penetrating flavors of black raspberries, baking spices and ripe cherry fruit. Finishes dense and black. Drinking well now but will improve with a year or two in the cellar.