The top cuvee, the 2004 Chateauneuf du Pape Deus-Ex Machina, a blend of 60% Grenache from ancient vines aged in foudres and 40% Mourvedre aged in small barrels, might well turn out to be the wine of the vintage. It is one of the few 2004s that can compete with the dozen or so monumental wines produced in Chateauneuf du Pape in 2003. This wine is dense ruby/purple to the rim, has a stunning nose of blackberry, crushed roasted Provencal herbs, and rich aged beef-like smells. The wine is sweet from glycerin and richness rather than any residual sugar as it is totally dry. It has fabulous texture, great purity, and stunning complexity and length. This is a real blockbuster wine that totally transcends the vintage character. Drink it over the next 12-15+ years.

Inky violet. Heady bouquet of raspberry, black cherry, lavender and fruity black pepper. Impressively concentrated and deep, with powerful, liqueur-like blackberry and cassis flavors enrobing big but supple tannins. Finishes with building sweetness and serious weight, but also with superb focus, leaving behind an impression of dark fruit essences. The yield here was reportedly 20 hectoliters per hectare.

A blockbuster wine, the 2004 Clos Saint Jean Châteauneuf du Pape Deus Ex Machina possesses heady notes of spice, blueberries, figs and exotic spice aromas. Over the coarse of the evening, the wine fleshed out and is a full bodied, rich long wine. Drinking well now, this shouldn’t have any issues lasting for another 10 to 15 years.