Clos Saint Jean CdP Deus Ex Machina 2020 (750ML)

99 FS / 97 JD / 97 WS / 96+ WA

#28 Jeb Dunnuck's Top 100 2022

Deep crimson in colour with purple reflections and a broad and bright ochre rim. On the nose, aromas of black berry fruit, hints of liquorice and dark nougat, subtle tar and truffle nuances. The powerful, complex palate is tight-knit with ripe supporting tannins, notes of ripe plum and a hint of fig underpinned by saline minerality. This wine has enormous length and the potential for further ageing.-Falstaff

A much more powerful wine based on 60% Grenache and 40% Mourvedre, the 2020 Châteauneuf Du Pape Deus-Ex Machina reminds me slightly of the 2011 with its spicy, perfumed, complex bouquet of red and black fruits, dried flowers, pepper, and Provençal herbs, with more gamey, meaty notes emerging with time in the glass. Full-bodied on the palate, it's balanced, has ultra-fine yet building tannins, no hard edges, and a great finish. It needs a solid 4-5 years of bottle age and should have 20+ of overall longevity.—Jeb Dunnuck

Boasts bitter plum, raspberry and black cherry reduction notes that have a lively savory, garrigue streak, while grippy-edged tar, tobacco and ganache notes pepper the finish. Muscular and dense but the cut is there, and the fruit core takes a late encore for good measure. Grenache and Mourvèdre. Best from 2025 through 2040. 500 cases made, 56 cases imported.-James Molesworth, Wine Spectator

A blend of 60% Grenache (matured in concrete) and 40% Mourvèdre (matured in new oak), the 2020 Chateauneuf du Pape Deus Ex Machina features toasty, vanilla-stained aromas of black cherries, plums and licorice. Full-bodied, richly concentrated and tannic yet lively and long, this intense, long-lived beauty finishes long, with lingering subtle echoes of dark chocolate. - JC, Wine Advocate