Utterly profound, the 2001 Henri Bonneau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Réserve des Célestins is a glorious wine that delivers everything you could want out of a Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Garrigue, kirsch, stems, meat, licorice, and dried blood aromas literally come leaping out of the glass and the wine is not only amazingly complex, but has a freshness and focus that few wines carry. Full bodied and yet light and focused on the palate, this has loads of sweet fruit, amazing purity, and a blockbuster, seamless finish. While certainly not primary, this is just beginning to show more nuance and maturity; it should benefit from another 3-5 years of bottle age and drink well for a decade or more after that. Just stunning stuff and those with bottle of this in the cellar should count themselves lucky!

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. RP

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.

Full medium ruby. Sappy, liqueur-like red fruits and pepper on the nose. Dense and liquoreux, with very primary, sappy red fruit flavors. Still quite unevolved but already shows terrific volume and a silky texture. This should be a very strong vintage.

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