2018 Cotes du Roussillon Chimeres

The 2018 Côtes du Roussillon Villages Chimères is 40% Grenache and 30% each Carignan and Syrah, aged 14 months in a combination of concrete tanks and oak demi-muids. Like virtually all of the Lafage-affiliated wines, it overdelivers for the price, offering up bushels of blueberries, cherries and stone fruit, tamed into savoriness on the finish by hints of wood spice and black olives. It's full-bodied and concentrated but supple, making it drinkable now and over the next five or so years. Impressively, this is a stronger effort than the 2017.