95 Pts., Robert Parker/Wine Advocate.

Showing fabulously well, and better than I predicted, the 2005 Chateauneuf du Pape Les Origines is one of the vintage's great successes, and still very reasonably priced for a wine of such quality. Dense saturated ruby/purple in color, it offers up a nose of melted licorice, roasted meat, tar, graphite, and oodles of blackberry and sweet cherry fruit. Quite full-bodied, with good acidity, moderate tannins, and a multi-dimensional mouthfeel, the wine has superb balance, fabulous concentration, and a long, long finish.

The tannins suggest 2-3 years of bottle age would be appropriate, but the wine can be drunk now, although it should also evolve for up to two decades. This is definitely a modernist take on Chateauneuf du Pape, but the wines never lose the soul and typicity of Provence. They are impeccably well-made, pure, and deeply colored.