2012 Domaine Charvin Chateauneuf du Pape (1.5 L) Magnum

“Elegant and Seamless:” 7-year-old Charvin

Rhône fans, this is what we call a blue-chip score from the cellar: Perfectly preserved magnums of the 2012 Domaine Charvin Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a 95-point gem from the buzzed-about producer that made Robert Parker invoke the sacred name of Château Rayas. Now seven years past harvest, the 2012 Charvin is at an ideal age: primed for a place at your table, or ready for a spot in your cellar. Jackpots like this one—large-format, straight from the producer— are rare, so we’ll save you the time: The only place in the United States where you will find this large-format bottling is on Wine Access.

The connection between Domaine Charvin and Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s exalted Château Rayas is clear: Most of Charvin’s grapes grow on cool and sandy north-facing slopes, recalling the soil and exposition of Rayas’s tree-sheltered vineyards. In Issue #185 of The Wine Advocate, Robert Parker—the most influential critic the Rhône Valley has ever known—put collectors on alert when he famously wrote that winemaker Laurent Charvin “to me has always come close to what was produced at Château Rayas under the late Jacques Reynaud.”

The Charvin family has been growing grapes in the southern Rhône since 1851. Ever since Laurent assumed responsibility in 1990, he has adhered religiously to the conventions of Châteauneuf, by fermenting whole clusters from vines averaging 60 years of age and employing short macerations to keep extraction in check. Rayas’s standard-bearing wines mature in ancient casks as opposed to Charvin’s concrete tanks, but the results are similar: The striking clarity and freshness of fruit that inspired Robert Parker’s declarations.

This is a golden opportunity to take some large-format, big-name Châteauneuf-du-Pape—”one of the most elegant and seamless Châteauneuf-du-Papes out there,” according to Wine Advocate—well into the future. The only thing we will quibble with is the “out there” part, because the only magnums of 2012 Charvin in the U.S. are not “out there.” They’re right here. On Wine Access. For now.