CDP Reserve des Celestins, Domaine Henri Bonneau 2001

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.

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.

The nearly perfect 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Celestins was the best tasting yet of this cuvee, which unquestionably vindicates Henri Bonneau's remarkable elevage system, in this case, 6+ years in ancient, mold-covered wood, kept in cellars that smell like a men's locker room that hasn't been sanitized in a few centuries. The unbelievable complexity of this wine's aromatics has everything Chateauneuf du Pape should be. Smelling like freshly slaughtered game in a meat-packing house, with roasted herbs, and a Provencal open-air market, the savage bouquet is redolent of flowers, meat blood, herbs, spices, and just about everything needed to satisfy the olfactory senses. Deep, voluptuous, and extraordinarily profound, this is a magnificent wine that has added so much weight and complexity that Bonneau's magic is capturing it at its peak of perfection as he intends to bottle it immediately after the 2007 harvest, and release it in early 2008. It should be drinkable within a year after bottling, as his wines often seem to go through an awkward post-bottling stage, and last for 20-25+ years. Drink 2007 - 2032.