The Château Mont-Redon Châteauneuf-du-Pape Le Plateau 2019 is a deep, generously fruited Grenache-Syrah red from the heart of the Rhône Valley appellation, drawn from the estate's oldest vines on the Mont-Redon plateau. Full-bodied and firmly built, it leads with dark fruit and stone rather than sweetness.

Blackberry, cassis and black raspberry come first, then violets, crushed rock and a faint graphite edge, with dried thyme and pepper filling in behind. Air brings a warm, savoury depth — cured meat, liquorice root, a little wood smoke.

The plateau's thick blanket of rolled galets over clay gives the wine both ripeness and drive, and 2019 was a hot, dry, low-yielding year across Châteauneuf-du-Pape that shows here as concentration rather than heaviness. Tannins are ripe and present, coating the mouth without drying it, and the finish is long, mineral and slightly salty.

Serve it with slow-cooked lamb shoulder, beef cheeks in red wine, duck with olives, or a winter daube. Hard sheep's milk cheeses work well at the end of the meal, and a decant of an hour helps if you are opening it young.

Drinking well from 2026 through to around 2038, with the fruit depth and structure of the 2019 vintage suggesting the middle of that window will be the sweet spot.