Tasting Notes
Vinous 95-96
Deep ruby. Seductive scents of ripe blackberry and boysenberry, singed plum and star anise, lifted by an intense floral topnote. Sweet, expansive dark fruit flavors show excellent concentration, with suggestions of licorice pastille and orange pith giving the wine an exotic character. Shows outstanding clarity and power on the extremely long finish, which is shaped by smooth, slow-building tannins.
Robert Parker 97
The 2009 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Celestins might be the wine of the vintage and got a big a oeWowa in the notebook. Thrillingly perfumed, with kirsch, currants, herbs de Provence, dried meats and spice-like aromas and flavors, it is an absolute knockout on the nose. This is all backed up by full-bodied richness in the mouth, and it possesses terrific mid-palate depth, layers of sweet tannin and a finish that pumps out plenty of sweet fruit. I don’t know when it will be bottled, but certainly, I was blown away by the wine. A great, and eye opening, visit that goes to show that sanitation might not be everything when it comes to winemaking, Henri Bonneau’s cellar is as incredibly humid, dirty and packed a cellar as I’ve ever seen. (In comparison, Rayas, which would give some Central Coast winemakers a heart attack, seems as sanitary as the International Space Station.) Nevertheless, Bonneau portrays a zest for life and the sweet nectar that comes out of the barrels could come from nowhere else. It’s also times like that when you realize how lucky we are, as wine lovers today, to have the access to a gentleman like Henri Bonneau and to be able to taste his wines. They won’t exist forever. During the visit, we went through every vintage back to 2005, however, due to the incredible time in barrel prior to bottling (some wines spend upward of 5 years in barrel), I question the correlation to what I tasted to what will actually end up in barrel (or the use of reviewing 2012s and 2011s now, when they won’t be released for years). As such, I’ve opted to just review the 2009s, 2008 (which is in bottle), the 2007 (which, based on my tasting, could be bottled tomorrow and be fabulous) and the 2006, which I reviewed last year for the Rhone Report. Importer: Alain Junguenet, Wines of France, Mountainside, NJ; tel. (908) 654-6173
JancisRobinson.com 18
Extraordinary richness and vibrancy in this throbbing cauldron of ripeness and spice but with some grainy tannin still in evidence. A wine to be sipped cautiously rather than swigged, so potent is it. Massive richness. No hurry whatsoever to drink this.
Anticipated maturity: 2016-2036
