any wine tasting recommendations for chateauneuf du pape and/or Gigondas?

Domaine Pierre Usseglio in Cheateuneuf itself.
In Giggondas, you might want to check out Domaine les Goubert.

Agree with Chateau de Beaucastel - my favorite! Also enjoyed Domaine du Vieux Telegraph for Chateauneuf du Pape. Finally, check out Domaine de Mourchon in Seguret which near Gigondas was a great stop as well. Cheers!

great! thank you for the tips. do these places require reservations?

Rick's Provence book includes a suggested "wine route", including the village of Gigondas. We enjoyed a nice lunch in Gigondas at a restaurant named Nez, also a wine bar. Their website: http://www.nez-gigondas.com/ (I couldn't find an English button, but you'll get the idea.) We particularly enjoyed our visit to the Domaine de Coyeux winery on Rick's route. The drive up is spectacular and the tasting was fun notwithstanding our very limited French language skills. Turns out, verbal communication isn't all that important when sampling good wine. We left with a few bottles that we enjoyed the following week in Paris.

do these places require reservations?

Neither of the ones I mentioned did, nor did any of the others I've visited in that area over the years. But Beaucastel probably would.

Thank you all for the suggestions

We really enjoyed our tasting and visit at Brotte, and the interesting Musee du Vin Brotte. It's all free, good little audio guide. The wine was fantastic too!

Email chateau beaucastel

I had a case shipped home from a shop called “the best vintage “ right in CdP. If you are careful you will make out ahead even with the substantial shipping costs bc of case discounts and price differences compared to the US. You can taste a number of wines there too. Remember that 2016 was a transcendent year for the southern Rhône. Buy lots of those. La maisouneta is a great restaurant in CdP. Very friendly and so delicious.