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

The 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Celestins reveals none of the herbaceousness of its siblings. It has a dark plum/garnet color and a big, sweet nose of roasted meats, lavender, pepper, kirsch liqueur, beef blood, and resiny notes. Surprisingly elegant, but rich and ripe, it looks to be an outstanding Chateauneuf du Pape but not one of Bonneau’s legendary efforts. It is always difficult to figure out just what is going on here. For over 15 years, my annual tasting through the hodgepodge of cellars and ancient barrels, foudres, and tanks in this underground maze known as the caves of Henri Bonneau is one of the gustatory highlights of the year. Yet the only thing that seems certain is that whatever comes out in bottle is usually much better than what you taste out of barrel. Henri Bonneau, who is now working in close conjunction with a new collaborator, Michel Roman, to help in doing some of the work in the cellar as he edges into his late sixties, called 2004 a “correct year.”Importer: Alain Junguenet, Wines of France, Mountainside, NJ; tel. (908) 654-6173