2001 - Chateauneuf-du-Pape Reserve Celestins, Henri Bonneau

Revisiting Bonneau’s recently released 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Celestins is a real treat as this cuvee flirts with perfection. Already revealing some pink and amber at the edge, the color is surprisingly evolved for a wine from this vintage. However, that’s deceptive as the aromatics offer incredible aromas of dried flowers, beef blood, spice, figs, sweet black currants and kirsch, smoked game, lavender, and sweaty but attractive saddle leather-like notes. Full-bodied and massively endowed, with abundant silky tannins, it possesses the balance to age for 30+ years. Henri Bonneau recently celebrated his 50th vintage of Chateauneuf du Pape, and no one can argue that he is the appellation’s greatest guardian of traditional winemaking. How does one describe an Henri Bonneau Chateauneuf du Pape? Perhaps the best description is that it represents a liquified charcoal-grilled steak heavily crusted on the outside, blood red on the inside, sprinkled with Provencal herbs, and doused in black pepper. Bonneau does not decide on what will go into his first wine, the Reserve des Celestins, or the second wine, Cuvee Marie Beurrier, until a year before the wines are bottled.. As I have indicated, all of the wines listed above are “potential” cuvees, with the exception of the 2003 Marie Beurrier. (No 2003 Reserve de Celestins was produced.) Tasting through the 2007s, Henri Bonneau’s first comments were, “it tastes too good too soon.” He said the same thing about the 2000s, and I argued with him, largely in vain, about that vintage’s greatness. Importer: Alain Junguenet, Wines of France, Mountainside, NJ; tel. (908) 654-6173

Deep red. Incredibly complex, wild bouquet of red fruit liqueur, botanical herbs, fresh and dried lavender, anise, smoked game and minerals. Round, sweet and impossibly deep, offering a smorgasbord of ripe red and dark berry flavors complicated by candied licorice, floral pastilles and succulent herbs. Becomes more vibrant on the finish, leaving a broad swath of sappy red fruits in its trail.