2019 Xavier Vignon Cuvee Anonyme Chateauneuf-du-Pape 750 ml

Xavier Vignon is the ultimate Wine Access favorite. 

Discovered by our founder more than a decade ago—right when Robert Parker was starting to praise Vignon as one of Châteauneuf’s “most highly renowned” talents—Vignon and his wines have thrilled thousands of our members, not to mention earned scores that put them alongside the undisputed heavyweight champs of the Rhône.

The last vintage earned 4.5 out of 5 stars from our members, which puts it with some serious Rhône legend. The 2019, grown on 100-year-old vines in prime, galet-strewn terroir, is a stunner, carrying an elite 95-97 points from Jeb Dunnuck.

Dark midnight-purple in color, this wine has a captivating nose of wild strawberry, currant, cassis, licorice, and baking spice, with powerful expressions of crushed stones, mocha, candied violets, and orange peel. Seamless on the palate, showing cherry liqueur, boysenberry, lavender, and spicebox flavors, it’s built on slowly building round tannins. It’s a wine that will evolve gracefully over the next several years—then pull it out and reap stunned silence from your friends. 

The 2019 vintage in Southern Rhône was like an NFL draft where all the top picks are tree-trunk-necked fullbacks, as a combination of dry heat and plenty of rain that swelled vineyard’s water reserves allowed grapes to hit record levels of ripeness. “These are rich, powerful wines that have full-bodied, structured profiles that are going to benefit from bottle age,” wrote Dunnuck.