Eighteen months in new French oak barrels has given the 2015 Côtes du Roussillon Villages le Clos des Fées a certain tightness and discipline lacking in the Vieilles Vignes bottling. There's still massive fruit and buried complexity, full body and rich tannins, but there's also firmness of structure that shows the serious, age-worthy side of Bizeul's winemaking. Vanilla and baking spices accent deep, dark cherries and plums, ending in a long, velvety finish. - JC

The flagship is the 2015 Côtes du Roussillon Villages le Clos des Fées and in 2015 it’s a blend of 50% Syrah, 20% each of Grenache and Carignan, and the rest Mourvèdre. It shows more Syrah character with its smoky, meaty black fruits, crushed rocks, resinous herbs, and garrigue aromas and flavors. Rich, full-bodied, and concentrated, it shows the more elegant, focused style of the vintage and stays lively and fresh on the palate. Possessing good acidity, fine tannin, and a great finish, it will benefit from another year or two in bottle and keep for over a decade.

An equal parts blend of old-vine Syrah, Mourvèdre, Grenache and Carignan grown on clay-limestone soils and part-vinified in new 500-litre demi-muids. The wine is aged in new oak barrels for 18 months then bottled unfiltered. It's ripe but reined in, showing a lovely pitch of fruit, pure and a little sweet but with coolness behind. This is a youthful and gourmand wine, clearly modern in style but not overdone, with well defined but polished tannins. (Drink between 2019-2025)