Have you ever heard of Peter Green, the near-mythical blues guitarist who founded Fleetwood Mac in 1967? Green released three extraordinary albums with his now-legendary band before abruptly vanishing from the public eye in 1970. B.B. King once said that Green had “the sweetest tone I ever heard; he was the only one who gave me the cold sweats.\ Green was that good, a certified wizard, and there’s an apt comparison to be made with Gilles Gasq, former winemaker/vineyard manager at Domaine Monpertuis in Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

As perennial favorites of The Wine Advocate and Jancis Robinson, Gasq’s were among the most consistently delicious and critically acclaimed Châteauneufs of the 2000s. Then, suddenly, after the 2010 vintage, Monpertuis’ owner sold the estate and Gasq was forced to stop making Châteauneuf altogether. I’ve had my fingers crossed for years in the hope that, one day, he would return—and today, my wishes have been answered! Gasq returns in even-better-than-before form with a momentous CDP red from one of my favorite vineyards in the region. Trust me, this bottle is on fire!

With 50% destemming and aging in a 20:80 mix of neutral oak demi-muids and epoxy-lined steel tanks, Manarine’s 2015 “Pied de Boud” leads with deep and mouth-filling black raspberry, dark cherry, and tooth-staining mulberry fruit. Behind the plush, luxuriously dark fruit there are layers and layers of berry liqueur, Mediterranean spices, sweet licorice and blue flowers. There is also an exuberant and inexhaustible sense of energy and balance here that keeps the wine pleasing to the palate and irrepressibly delicious after many hours; sadly, I can’t say that about very many Southern Rhône reds these days, so this is a real treat! And, to be clear, this is not a “cellar” wine. It’s a bottle built to enjoy in the near and medium term so please drink it tonight with barbecued ribs, or rest it in your cellar for 3-5 years if you wish to impart a slightly more savory palate of aromas. Whatever you do, don’t wait to grab a few bottles. There are only a few hundred cases on the planet and I fully expect that, just like 6-7 years ago, Gilles Gasq’s Châteauneuf-du-Pape is going to be a global sensation before long. Welcome back, Gilles!