From a cool, dry year, the 1996 Chateauneuf du Pape is a lightly textured, elegant, medium-bodied effort that has pretty notes of sweet red fruits, strawberries, rose petals and cherry blossoms. At 20 years of age, it's still lively and fresh, and offers a Pinot Noir-like level of elegance and purity, and I suspect it has aged as well as it has due to its impeccable balance more so than overt concentration and richness.