Robert Parker's Wine Advocate 31/10/2012 The powerful, massive, tannic 2005 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Celestins is a 30-year wine. Its dense plum color is followed by huge notes of Asian hoisin sauce, smoked meats, beef blood, kirsch, figs and black currants. This full-bodied 2005 may be the biggest, richest Chateauneuf du Pape Henri Bonneau has produced since his 1998. The tannins are still frightfully high, and the wine is structured and backward, but so, so promising. Forget this 2005 for another 5-7 years and drink it over the following three decades. Henri Bonneau was in the hospital recovering from an operation at the time of my visit, so my tasting notes are from wines I purchased at retail. His 2006s should be released in late 2012, and my pre-bottling notes on those wines were published in issue 197 (dated 10-31-11). The 2006 Reserve des Celestins was rated (94-96) and the already bottled 2006 Marie Beurrier received a score of 91. Importer: Alain Junguenet, Wines of France, Mountainside, NJ; tel. (908) 654-6173

Ready now, with a beautiful fragrance of violets, roses and potpourri. Full but soft and generous, the tannins are resolved now with a touch of rhubarb and plum on the palate. Very Châteauneuf, it's not trying too hard and gives a gentle, floating finish. Very good indeed.

A big, muscular Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the 2005 Henri Bonneau Réserve des Célestins delivers a thrilling array of plum, crème de cassis, roasted garrigue, blood, and hints of graphite on the nose. Absolutely compelling aromatically, with awesome typicity and complexity, this full-bodied, structured effort is thick and rich on the palate, with a layered, concentrated mid-palate, integrated acidity, and blockbuster length on the finish. Given the almost voluptuous texture and quality of fruit, this is a profound drink now; nevertheless, it will benefit from 5-7 years of bottle age, and keep for 2 decades or more. If I had to choose one bottle to represents the essence of traditionally made Châteauneuf-du-Pape, this would be it!

The 2005 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve des Celestins (probably) is again profoundly different and could be a 1989 deja vu all over again so to speak. It is a dense ruby/purple-hued, massive, full-bodied wine offering abundant notes of beef blood, figs, roasted herbs, lavender, soy, hoisin sauce, kirsch, black currants and plums. There is plenty of tannin and this cuvee will need at least a decade of cellaring once it has been released. It possesses an aromatic and structural profile not dissimilar from the 1989 (a wine that, at age 21, remains an adolescent). Henri Bonneau, who is now 70 years of age, continues to make Chateauneuf du Pape the way it was made 50-100 years ago ... long cask aging in old barrels and bottling it, as he says jokingly, “when I need money.” A visit to these cellars is always one of my most rewarding of the year. The barrels and foudres that will probably be used in the Cuvee Marie Beurrier all have the letter “G” on them and everything with Reserve des Celestins potential has the letter “P” on it. Bonneau went through a litany of the issues that confronted the 2009 vintage, particularly the drought that affected much of the Grenache planted in many of Chateauneuf du Pape’s terroirs, and he reminded me that he had predicted it would be a problem when I saw him last year. Bonneau continues to claim the 2007s are too showy and flamboyant to ever develop into a great, long-lived vintage. Importer: Alain Junguenet, Wines of France, Mountainside, NJ; tel. (908) 654-6173